Ken Owen shreds state funding of political parties

This soothed my throat and irritability today. Militant Moderate superbly dissects the greatest problems with state funding of political parties. My views are exactly on point with Ken's writing and I'm glad someone has taken the time to speak out against what seems to be the latest fad of choice of the chattering classes.

What's more, and Militant Moderate only averts to this point, I take objection to the existence of political parties becoming an essential part of our democratic system. This may sound odd if you've just read it for the first time, but at the moment parties play only a practical function in allowing democratic institutions to deliver what more of the public want as often as possible. There is no prerequisite for them to exist out of principle nor is there anything to make their continued survival more likely if someone comes up with a better idea. They do not play an inherent role in our democratic process from a theoretical or legal perspective. I would be very concerned at a change to the system which effectively made the existence of parties as the dominant force in our political process inevitable, both practially and theoretically.

The state should not be used to prop up "big old players" in the market for political parties. Indeed, one could say, if they cannot retain our confidence in relation to finances they deserve to die. Much better such a death than to let them loose on the public's finances...