political parties are anti-democratic
The preferential ballot access of parties and the use of parties to determine congressional leadership and committees are not democratic. Ballot access should be available for any citizen who can meet the criteria. Just as one votes for a person, ballot access should be focused on the person. And each person should be required to meet whatever qualification standards are democratically set. Parties shouldn’t be allowed to bypass those standards. Allowing preferential ballot access further entrenches existing power - the major threat to any democracy.
Democracy must be one person-one vote, regions must have representatives that are free to argue and legislate for the needs of their constituents and the nation as a whole. Congressional rules that assign leadership and committees along party lines are anti-democratic because they incentivize representatives to put party over people.
Collective action and persuasion are beautiful things. Political parties can serve useful functions. But political parties should be like any other advocacy group. They shouldn’t have preferential ballot access or control over legislative process and structure. Our founders didn’t include political parties in the original design and with good reason.