Is it really worth joining a political party?

Given the the laughable level of confidence most Southern Europeans have in their respective political systems it might seem surprising that I have been mulling over the prospect of joining a political party in my home country of Portugal.

"But why?" asks the concerned reader in you, and rest assured that it's a question I've asked myself more than once before sitting down to write this. After all, let's consider what someone would actually be able to accomplish by joining a political party. For starters, let's assume I don't see it as a simple route to personal power (which I promise you I don't. Trust me, it's not like I'm a member of a political party or anything...) and that I genuinely want to use it to spur positive change for as many people as possible. Given the very nature of political parties, the odds are stacked against me. Any noble intentions I might have stand a good chance of being whittled down as I make endless compromises to secure the support of my fellow party members. And for what? To complete objectives who probably wouldn't be able to recognize themselves in a mirror after all that wheeling and dealing?

Despite being faced with this rather pessimistic view, I believe Paul Rudd provides an eloquent response.

A criticism is only really worth the breath needed to say it if it comes with a solution. Political parties have become such an integral part of most democracies that any attempt to bring about change through government without them is going to run into some serious walls at best. Sure, staging a revolution could be another possibility, but anyone attempting to do so would sure as hell need a pretty clever alternative to replace the democratic system they'd just chucked out the window (not to mention that, historically, quite a few revolutions haven't had exactly what you'd call a well-considered follow-through). Now, I'm not saying that this is a reality that should or will last forever; resolving the problems that spring from political parties should be high up on the agenda of any society. However, what I will say is that the citizens of a democracy, somewhat ironically, have little choice in this matter. If we want to makes changes to and through our governments, joining a political party is our best bet.

Obviously, this leaves the issue of which political party to join, but I'm sure this post has given you enough fun for today, so I'll leave that issue for another time.