Home page The elective dictatorship In the article, "Political party perspective" the process of election, on the basis of an offer of "linked policies", was shown to be contrary to basic considerations of freedom. The winning party not only takes over the government it also sustains a fixed majority in parliament by not moving ministers of state from the parliament and substituting them through by-elections. In this way the political parties purposely prevent the separation of powers between government and parliament. Accordingly party whips are used by minority political parties (elected with considerably less than 50% of the electorate's support) to force MPs to vote in favour of "the party". In this way they are able to dictate the content of legislation and governmental acts because they have guaranteed themselves parliamentary majorities in all votes of interest to their "party". The concept of a free constituency representation, with members of parliament voting in line with their constituency wishes, is totally absent. This state of affairs completely undermines the effectiveness of the enfranchisement of all people in Britain. Because party manifestos often combine, in the minds of many, mutually contradictory policies, a general election often degenerates into a matter of voting for the party with the least worse "package". The electorate is not provided with the opportunity to consider policies and proposals one by one, as a separate parliament would do through independent voting. The "government sitting in parliament" ploy has worked for too long assisting such parties force through their "packages". The electorate is left having to accept policies they do not want in exchange for some they do. Ruling with law Because the majority of parliamentary time and output is spent on legislation, the overall effect is that political parties, which are minority private organizations, have been able to get themselves into a position of ruling by law. This is not the same as the rule of law. It is the use of law to get their way. This constitutes an elective dictatorship. People ruling and the role of law Amongst the buzz phrases which politicians like to bandy about is "the rule of law"; indeed, this is often cited in discussions on the European constitution. But what political party adherents mean by the rule of law is their using the manipulation of the law to achieve "their" ends. To reverse bad laws is as disruptive as the change in laws themselves. This is especially true when the motivation for a change in the law comes from a the points of view held by a faction of some minority political party which is able to manipulate the parliamentary and governmental system. As mentioned in the article, "Law does not rule, people do", it is imperative that our government be separated from parliament and whips be removed on a permanent basis by outlawing them. Only in this way would members of parliament be free to vote according to their conscience and constituency wishes. Naturally this would also mean a growth in parliamentary membership of independent politicians who only represent their constituencies. Ending the dictatorship To reverse the elective dictatorship it is necessary, contrary to an often heard advice, to not vote for the least bad political party but rather to vote for independent individuals of some local standing. Voters should support those who are considered to be honest and wordly enough to represent all of the people of their constituency irrespective of allegiances of any kind. It is time for political party manipulations to end.