Being in a political party

One of the things that I and others advocate for is being politically active, and that may include joining a political party. 

I’ve done that, and I’d like to make a few points for anyone considering doing so: 

• I don’t consider that the perfect political party exists. However, it is probably possible to find one that largely shares you values and goals; 
• I view being in a political party as a way to test what arguments will work best in achieving your goals in a mini-sample of broader society.
  This necessarily means working WITH others, and using such things as exposition, negotiation, persuasion, and the real world necessity of compromise - and the equally vital skill of knowing when NOT to yield on your goals and values.
  After all:
  
• If you can't convince more or less like-minded people to support you, how are you going to persuade voters to not only support something you want, but to not change their mind and get rid of it at a future election?
  (Current extremist politics on the right make both of those goals increasingly difficult); 
• You have to maintain your integrity for the long term - for yourself, and for the credibility of whatever you seek to do; 
• Being in a political party is also an education in humanity - good and bad.
  Be prepared to be surprised by the good - including in MPs and those who aspire to be MPs.
  As I mentioned in this post, CEOs are not all bad, and neither are MPs - or, indeed, much of humanity, when allowed to be their best.
  

Of course, this post could be being influenced towards the more optimistic because something I and others have been working for passed its first hurdle - which is a significant step. 

Nevertheless, I know and will acknowledge that patience, persistence, and authenticity (good-natured, when possible) are essential. 

I’ve joined the party I have because: 

• its values and goals are close enough to my ideal that I can tolerate the discrepancies; 
• it has people I respect and can work with; 
• I can see that it is possible for me to work towards urging the party closer to my ideal; 
• it provides an opportunity for me to work realistically towards changing society towards what I consider better - in particular, by testing advocacy arguments.
  

I have NOT joined the party because I consider it or the people in it perfect, and I have NOT given up my life outside the party, which includes matters such as my family and friends, my spiritual activities (which inform my politics, moving those towards inclusion always, unlike these people), etc.

 

Assumptions / basis 

In writing this, I have assumed / started from the following: 

• this blog states quite clearly that it is about political and human rights matters, including lived experience of problems, and thus I will assume readers are reasonable people who have noted the content warning in the post header;

Possible flaws 

Where I can, I will try to highlight possible flaws / issues you should consider:

• there may be flawed logical arguments in the above: to find out more about such flaws and thinking generally, I recommend Brendan  Myers’ free online course “Clear and Present Thinking”; 
  
• I could be wrong - so keep your thinking caps on, and make up your own minds for yourself.
  

 

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Finally, remember: we need to be more human being rather than human doing.