Joining Political Party?

omega42

Just wondering what exactly does joining a political party entail?

All the parties have a join page on their website, some even ask for membership fees but none say what the benefits are of joining

Anybody any Idea's

Omega

benway

Sign up by credit card on the website. You get occasional emails, invites to constituency meetings, votes for delegates to party conference, invites to talks on various topics ... and the crushing disappointment and guilt by association when they sell out on all their principles. You'll never guess which party I'm a member of.

Naggins

What political party are you interested in joining? Think of your ideology and political positions and match them to a party. Don't join for the sake of it or if you think it may advance your career or social capital.

Xenophile

"Ask not what your country can do for you, but rather what you can do for your country" !

omega42

I know which party I support, my question would be what are the benefits of joining the party instead of just voting for them in the elections

Naggins wrote: »

I'm a member of a political party in a university, all I paid was the clubs and society's requirement which I think is 3 euro. What political party are you interested in joining? Think of your ideology and political positions and match them to a party. Don't join for the sake of it or if you think it may advance your career or social capital.

ninty9er

omega42 wrote: »

I know which party I support, my question would be what are the benefits of joing the party instead of just voting for them in the elections

In an ideal world you'll influence what it is you're voting for when you do vote, in reality that's very much tempered by the politics of vote getting.

dahamsta

What benway said. I joined Labour years ago and got progressively more pissed off with them, finally cancelling my membership about two years ago. It's just mind-numbing watching them backtrack, fib and bullsh1t their way along, I couldn't take it any more. Unless you have political ambitions, it's flushing money down the toilet.

Naggins

omega42 wrote: »

I know which party I support, my question would be what are the benefits of joining the party instead of just voting for them in the elections

The benefits include that you meet like minded individuals who share the same interests and you can contribute to the policies formulated. A negative beside when the take positions you may not agree with it, is being politically attached to a party in that some jobs and careers (army, civil service ....) explicitly state one must not be a member of a political party.

Suryavarman

The only benefits I can imagine would be that you get to campaign on behalf of the party and get invited to the Ard Fheis. It might be a stretch to call those benefits though!

WolfgangWeisen

There are no benefits at being involved in local level politics. You will be asked to vote on things, but they will be predominantly worthless.

Take, for example, the Fine Gael Dun Laoghaire branch. Coming up to the last general election, they were asked to vote on who they ,the branch, wanted to put forward for the general election. They voted for two men.

Fine Gael head-office stepped in, told them they weren't getting what they voted for, removed one of the candidates and replaced them with Mary Mitchell-O'Connor. Why would you bother giving your time and energy to such people?

The only reason to get involved is if you've political aspirations of your own. Otherwise you're a lot better off just getting a hobby or similar.

Dirk Gently

The downside is you'll meet like minded people and exclude yourself from critical opinions. You'll become immersed in the "party" or your "club" and eventually just support positions laid down from the leadership by default and oppose the opposite view by default without having imput or even an understanding of the issue itself. Eventually you'll be little more than a drone, incapable of independent critical analysis. See members of political parties for evidence.

Sierra Oscar

omega42 wrote: »

I know which party I support, my question would be what are the benefits of joining the party instead of just voting for them in the elections

The benefit of being able to shape the policies of the party you are a member of, in theory anyways.

Pride Fighter

omega42 wrote: »

I know which party I support, my question would be what are the benefits of joining the party instead of just voting for them in the elections

If you believe in the party you are going to join, by joining, you'll be canvassing and leafletting and getting the party more votes, so it can get more candidates elected, and get a higher percentage of the vote, so they can get more state funding.