Political Parties

I was disappointed and, quite frankly, surprised to read Dan Rodricks ' column in which he wrote that based upon his opposition to the tax increase, Senator Bobby Zirkin should switch political parties and become a Republican ("Bobby Zirkin: secret Republican?" March 20). As a guest on Mr. Rodricks' radio program last year, I discussed my decision to support marriage equality and the fact that I was the only Republican senator to do so; support, I might add, that Mr. Rodricks applauded.

Paris. -- What is happening in Italy is the cathartic reaction of a fundamentally healthy society. An explosive popular revolt is taking place against the corruption produced in that country by professional crime and also by the unnatural political immobility, or repression, caused by the Cold War. There is a sense in which the Italians -- like the East Europeans -- have been victims of the Cold War.For a year now the judiciary (police investigations are...

Moscow THE CIRCUS has left town, but the clowns remain behind. That is how I would characterize the state of affairs in Russia after the failed coup and the subsequent collapse of the Communist Party structure.We are passing through a critical moment when the old system has died, but the new has yet to be born.In politics we face the odd situation of having a " democracy" without real political parties. Real democracy is based on competing political parties that can alternate power. And political parties are based primarily on the material interests of organized social groups, such as farmers, workers and entrepreneurs.

MEXICAN PRESIDENT Vicente Fox's administration is at an impasse. A congressional defeat last month of his party's plan to raise taxes to bail out the cash-strapped government means there will almost certainly be no tax, energy, labor or political reform during the remainder of his term. The economy's mediocre performance during the first half of his term and the modest estimates for the second half mean Mexico will not absorb its ballooning jobs deficit. In fact, Mr. Fox's only major achievement may lie in immigration reform - if President Bush's ambitious but fuzzy proposal legalizes millions of Mexicans in the United States.

TOKYO -- As sound trucks roam the streets and postersaccost pedestrians with gleaming images of eager candidates, the central figure in elections set for tomorrow is not even on the ballots.Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama may not be formally competing -- voters will choose only members of Parliament's upper chamber -- but a poor showing for his Socialist Party could force his resignation. And that, in turn, could lead to the collapse of the governing coalition of three political parties, and then a political realignment.

OUR SYSTEM of privately financed politics has a discriminatory impact on African-Americans. For that reason, black voices must be heard in the debate about how the system should be reformed, including the current debate in the Maryland General Assembly. Full public financing of political campaigns would improve the quality of democracy, government and life for blacks. The most effective method of eliminating the inequalities of the current system is to provide ample public funding to legitimate candidates who agree to limit their campaign spending and refrain from raising money from private sources.

WASHINGTON - Seeking to overturn the nation's month-old campaign finance law, opponents of the new rules told a federal court yesterday that the limits trample the free-speech rights of political parties and urged the judges to overturn the hard-won statute. Bobby Burchfield, an attorney representing the Republican National Committee, told a special three-judge panel that the law, which took effect Nov. 6, could "stifle" democracy by limiting the parties' ability to educate voters and encourage people to go to the polls.

WASHINGTON - As the national political parties and candidates prepare for next year's elections, the campaign fund-raising rules are shifting like sand in a windstorm. "There's a certain amount of blindness here right now," said Rep. Rahm Emanuel, an Illinois Democrat and prolific fund-raiser for his party. "You don't know whether you are operating under old rules or new rules or the old new rules." With the opinion issued Friday by a three-judge panel, a new campaign finance law, which had banned political parties from raising unlimited "soft money" from wealthy people, corporations and unions, has been tossed out. But the judges said soft money - contributions given to a political party, not to the campaign of a specific candidate - still may not be spent for television ads supporting or opposing federal candidates.

WASHINGTON - The federal ban on "soft money" political contributions will survive - for now. That was the gist of a decision yesterday by a federal court to suspend its recent ruling on the new campaign law until the Supreme Court decides the case. As a result, political parties, presidential and congressional candidates, and interest groups will have to abide by all provisions of the law, even though the lower court had found some unconstitutional. The ruling was a victory for the Justice Department and the law's congressional sponsors, led by Sens.

The election's over; should political parties be over too? Is it time to junk the D's and the R's after politicians' names, and all the baggage that comes with them? How meaningful and relevant are candidates' political parties anymore? When a New England Republican can be more progressive than a Texas Democrat, when millions regard themselves as independents and occupy the takeout-menu middle on political issues, why do we need to belong to parties? Barack Obama is in the Democratic Party but in some ways seems not to be of it. He built his own political operation and fundraising mechanisms, and so - unlike Bill Clinton, who constructed his political machine within the party framework - owes less to the Democratic edifice than he does to the support of an even bigger tent full of Americans.