Why we should abandon political parties

The basic principle of the Declaration was that all "men are born and remain free and equal in rights" (Article 1), which were specified as the rights of liberty, private property, the inviolability of the person, and resistance to oppression (Article 2). All citizens were equal before the law and were to have the right to participate in legislation directly or indirectly (Article 6); no one was to be arrested without a judicial order (Article 7). Freedom of religion (Article 10) and freedom of speech (Article 11) were safeguarded within the bounds of public "order" and "law."

in 1754, Rousseau wrote his Discourse on the Origin and Basis of Inequality Among Men. In it, he attempted a thought experiment which imagined what humans may have been like in a "pre-civilisational" state. He stated that his conclusions, in which we have an evolving and changing relation between leaders and their followers were uncertain.

In short, we are all bound by a common agreement, unwritten, to care for the common good or common interest.

Weil wrote in On the Abolition of All Political Parties "The true spirit of 1789 consists in thinking, not that a thing is just because such is the people's will, but that, in certain conditions, the will of the people is more likely than any other will to conform to justice."

"In the eyes of Rousseau (and he was right), the unjust will of an entire nation is by no means superior to the unjust will of a single individual" by which she (and Rousseau) meant that an single individual seeking justice is more morally acceptable than an unjust government governing entire country.

She also wrote:

To assess political parties according to the criteria of truth, justice and the public interest, let us first identify their essential characteristics. There are three of these:

1. A political party is a machine to generate collective passions.

2. A political party is an organisation designed to exert collective pressure upon the minds of all its individual members.

3. The first objective and also the ultimate goal of any political party is its own growth,

Further arguments she puts against political parties is" the essential tendency of all political parties is towards totalitarianism, first on the national scale and then on the global scale." We can see this in Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Legitimately elected, Hitler used his party to build German militarism to invade Poland and initiate World War II.

Is Simone Weil correct?

The Hitler example above is one piece of evidence. But even before Hitler, the democratic Weimar Republic was formed in1919. It immediately faced serious challenges. Among them were crippling economic depression, domestic turmoil (culminating in open rebellion), and a divisive and unwieldy political system which many Germans hoped would fail. Liberal parties (including the Socialist and Communist parties) often failed to find common ground with each other or with more moderate parties. The extreme right criticized the government (and each other) at every turn, even with conservatives in control.

Constant political chaos made it difficult to govern. The Weimar Republic lasted from the summer of 1919, when the Constitution was passed, to the Nazi seizure of power on January 30, 1933. If the political parties of Germany had worked together it is unlikely Hitler would have come to power.

We can also use more modern examples from the major English-speaking countries to substantiate her views, particularly the United States and Australia.