MISSOURI WATCH: RIP: RASCALS IN POLITICS

Some day in the next millennium, when historians, political scientists, researchers, consultants and concerned citizens gather to study the reason for the collapse of representative government in America, more than a few will suggest the answer can be found in two words: political parties. Although seldom blamed, except by members of the opposition, today's political structure is far more dangerous to our republic and its government than most citizens are willing to recognize.

The awful truth is that an unrealized degree of public policy is determined not by elected representatives of the people but by functionaries of political parties who have no constituency and are answerable to no one, save those who placed them in positions of power. Although neither their existence nor their role in the federal government was recognized by our founding fathers, today's Democratic and Republican parties constitute a fourth branch of government, both in the electoral process and the systematic role of everyday governance. This additional "branch" of government often exercises far more influence and control over the eventual outcomes of governance than the executive, legislative or judicial branches.

So pervasive has this influence become within the central government in Washington that its power and controlling features have moved in an equally disturbing degree to governments at the state level. Anyone who hasn't recognized the partisan power in our state capital at Jefferson City simply hasn't been watching. Voters may believe their elected and appointed in the City of Jefferson are beholden to voter franchise, but the facts are that once these officials are installed in office and begin deciding public issues, the principal controlling force over their actions is a different constituency: the above noted fourth branch of government.

This pejorative influence over elected officials begins even before the electoral process has begun. Private citizens seeking elective office have only one source for aid: political parties that proffer information, know-how and the all-important campaign cash. Without these assists, the would-be servant-of-the-people would be as helpless as a beached whale. Political officials are only too happy to offer their essential goodies in exchange for the applicants' gratitude, appreciation and unquestioning devotion to the party's positions on all public matters, whether this means undying support for an elected governor or matters dealing with tax laws, social programs, public issues or how a party's convention delegates are chosen.

This last item relates to a ruling just handed down to Missouri from on high in Washington by way of the Democratic National Committee, which has informed Jefferson City that our state cannot hold a presidential primary next year if Missouri refuses to record votes by their party. Initially the decision to finally allow Missourians to take part in such a vital function of government as the selection of a candidate for the highest office in the land was made, albeit reluctantly, by members of the General Assembly. Party chieftains prefer to reserve this right for themselves, and did so for decades, before finally allowing the average citizen a small role in the important function of his nation's governance.

But the hardly democratic Democratic Party has never been reluctant to override the public wishes on a menu of far ranging interests and certainly never hesitant to dictate the terms of selecting candidates for public office. The Republicans show nearly as much contempt for public preference as Democrats.

Party control hardly stops at the delegate-selection stage. Federal and state legislative branches are so fixated on political issues that, without them, they sometimes even cease to function. Not only are officers within these branches selected by political parties, the agendas of all committees are more often determined by partisan dogma than by the acceptance of what Jefferson called "the public's will and its destiny." If it were not for the requirements of "equal party representation" on most state and federal commissions, both Washington and Jefferson City would become single-party villages during each four-year electoral period. One party's dominance in either state or federal legislative bodies produces the inevitable impotence of the smaller-represented party, despite the fact each legislator and congressman represents the same number of constituents. In whose dictionary is this defined as fair, equitable and democratic?

Absence of equitable and just representation of public will first originates at the electoral level, which has become corrupt because of partisan insistence on unlimited spending. This anti-democratic trend is favored by parties because they are able to solicit, and then distribute, the vast bulk of cash raised during campaigns, thereby enhancing their control over elected officials. The pious partisan calls for electoral change are but sounding brass since reform would weaken the fiscal dependency of candidates.

This contrived control over democratic matters serves to precipitate voter indifference and results in public impotence over public affairs. We are voting less because we feel less and less in control, more driven by partisan forces than the republican concepts of our founders. If we cannot control how we elect our officials, we feel an identical void in making our voices heard in capital corridors. Eventually we will pay less and less attention to how we are governed until, some day, party officials will drive the final nail in representative government, offering the excuse that the public no longer cares.

Never underestimate the ability of partisans to detect the precise moment to replace the rights of voters with their own self-serving concepts of how our democracy should function.

~Jack Stapleton of Kennett is the editor of Missouri News and Editorial Service.