How to organize the perfect party

Election Day is coming up, and you haven’t found the right party? Although you strictly followed my guide? Then you have to found your own party.

As always, organizing your own party is much less fun, than joining one. It is hard work. I won’t give you advice on the policies or which theme party you should throw, I will only give you my thoughts about the structure and organization of the perfect party.

What’s the problem with existing parties?

Before we are founding our perfect party, we need to know, what is the issue with existing ones.

It’s possible that there is no party that represents you. But for most of us, there is a party out there, that at least vaguely represents your thoughts and opinions. That is, if you live in a country with more than one or two parties.

If you have found a party that you can agree with content-wise, there is still a chance you won’t vote for them, because of the lack of competent people in the party or the party members fight over power.

Power, it all comes down to this.

People who are in power, don’t want to give it away. That is globally true, but specially for political parties and even more for parties that exist for decades or centuries, like the conservative and social-democratic parties in Europe or the Republican and Democratic parties in the USA.

If the structure and organization of the party is flawed, then eventually the members of the party won’t fight for their beliefs but against each other to gain as much power as possible.

As we need to limit power and embrace frequent changes in our system, so do we in the perfect party in our current system.

What does the perfect party look like

The perfect party is a small reflection of our good system. The structure and organization of the party will be adapted to fit a global system.

Limit the power

Power makes people weird. They get addicted to it, and it is hard for them to free themselves from addiction.

It also attracts a certain type of person. They are only interested in power and not in politics.

If there are no powerful positions inside a party, you attract a different kind of person to engage and do the job.

How do you do that?

Sharing is caring

First, have more than one party leader. Sharing the power with other people, makes the position more unattractive for narcissistic career-oriented individuals and more attractive for people interested in politics and helping people.

Time is up

Second, limit the term in office. A party needs frequent changes to engage new views and go forward. Of course, it is also important to have consistency, that’s where the former suggestion comes in handy.

3 wins – The Triumvirate

In my vision of the perfect party, you have three party leaders. The term in office for each one is three years. Every year, one chair changes. So you have a freshman, a sophomore, and a senior.

This triumvirate has mainly two main functions. On the one hand, to represent the party to the outside world and, on the other hand, to mediate within the party between communities and party members.

That means their power is very limited.

How do you become one of the triumvirates? You get drawn.

Executive board

It works like this. Periodically, every member of the party can be voted into the executive board. If he or she wants to. Out of this government body, the triumvirate gets drawn. After a sabbatical year, you can be redrawn if you are reelected to the executive board.

Besides being the pool for potential leaders, the executive board is responsible for the organization and the political content of the party. It is divided into different subgroups, which are working on different topics.

The base

The third and last hierarchic level is the base. Every member is part of it. Everyone can become a member. You pay a contribution depending on your income.

Away from the hierarchical order there are members, who work in the subgroups or as secretaries, etc. They don’t get elected or drawn. They are treated like normal employees.

Drawn Councils

There are also drawn councils. Whenever there are important decisions to make or the executive board needs help making one, members will be drawn to form a council. They will hear experts if necessary and find a solution. Which will be finite.

If it is necessary to find a top candidate for an election, he or she will also be selected by a drawn council. Every member can run for the position as top candidate and will be interviewed by the council. The decision process is public and transparent.

Local

Now we have a hierarchy structure on the global level of the perfect party. But it is not a theoretical thing far away, the perfect party is right where the people are.

Horizontal Organization

Under the global unit, there are several local units. And that’s it. There are no regional or national groups. Of course, local groups can work together whenever it makes sense, but they are not a structural part of the party.

As long as our good system is not implemented globally, there will be the need to adapt to the current system. National parties, for example, are organized like the global group. These parties work to make themselves obsolete because there are no national countries in the good system.

Power to the people

The local groups of our perfect party are very simple structured. There is the base and from this base all needed positions in the group are drawn. In my experience, it is very difficult to find people to take on positions in local organizations. By drawing, everyone gets a turn.

When people experience on their own how decision-making works and what it means to serve in certain positions, they have a more profound understanding of how politics work.

If required, there can be some positions filled by employees.

If there are decisions to make, every member can vote. That’s because on a local level, decisions are mostly not that complex and they affect every single member. If it is too complex or the group cannot agree, they can draw a council or ask the global group to find a solution.

Conclusion

That’s how I imagine the perfect party structure.

The most important thing is to limit the power of the people in charge. We achieve this by limiting the term of office and distributing the leading tasks among many people.

The element of drawing lots ensures that as many different party members as possible can get involved.

Because of only two hierarchy levels, it is easy for members to participate in both. While the global group is responsible for global problems and policies, the local groups solve everyday problems directly.

What is your opinion of this structure? What didn’t I think about? And what shall the name of the perfect party be? Tell me in the comments.

Ian DeBay

My name is Ian DeBay.

I am the founder of iandebay.com. I am a content creator, blogger, podcast, YouTuber. This is my blog where I talk about system change, sustainability and other fun stuff.