Yesterday I heard a great radio interview. Terry Gross of Fresh Air  interviewed Mickey Edwards whose new book The Parties Versus the People: How to Turn Republicans and Democrats into Americans is about our hyper-partisan political system.

In the interview, he calls political parties “cancer at the heart of our democracy”. Strong words but well deserved.

I have previously written about this excessive power of party and am glad Mickey Edwards‘ views are getting wider coverage. I enjoy listening to podcasts when I go for a walk. If you enjoy podcasts, be sure to get this interview by Terry Gross.

Although the citizens (or we the people) are theoretically in charge, the people we elect to represent us and govern are too busy posturing and refuse to compromise and so are unable to govern and solve our country’s problems. We have given too much power to the 2 major political parties.

The parties control our elections and limit our choices, determine what laws are come up for a vote and how our representatives will vote. The votes will be in the interests of the party leaders, rather than the people.

The NPR website has highlights of the interviews as well as comments on the interview and the roles of parties in our dysfunctional system.

Is this anyway to run a democracy?