This event is held online. (Click the button to join the Zoom meeting.)
American political parties have been very busy lately. Party allegiance plays a huge role in our politics, yet the functioning of parties varies throughout the world. A “liberal” party could be right wing in one country and left wing in another. And the number of political parties a country has ranges widely, from zero in several places to more than 2500 in India. At the next Café Inquiry Online (shortly before our upcoming election), we will talk about…political parties. For an overview of the history of and varieties of political parties, you can look through this lengthy but informative Wikipedia article. This Wikipedia page has a list of countries and other entities that don’t have political parties. Watch this 15-minute video about Danish elections to get a sense of what politics is like in a multi-party system. For a very approachable discussion of the party system in Australia and its implications, you can watch this episode of the Political Reality podcast on YouTube. The segments from approximately minutes 7.25 to 28.18, and from 37.14 to 41.22 deal with political parties. For some reason the video is starting in the middle, but you can just move it back to wherever you want to start. See you there!
Café Inquiry starts with a short introduction of the day’s topic, followed by casual discussion.
This event is free and open to the public. Donations appreciated, but not expected.
Attendees are able to propose future topics which would align with Michigan Humanist’s purpose: from atheism, agnosticism, humanism, secularism, and freethinking to broader subjects in science and humanities, such as religion, philosophy, social issues, politics, evolution, morality, ethics, and psychology.
Café Inquiry (Grand Rapids) meets each month IN PERSON on the second Sunday and ONLINE on the fourth Sunday.
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Michigan Humanists values the participation of all guests — requests for reasonable accommodation may be made by contacting the event host at least three days prior to the event.
Michigan Humanists expects all guests to engage in respectful discussion. Critiques on views and claims based on merit are allowed, but not attacks on individuals who hold other perspectives.
Any person engaging in disruptive behavior or harassment will be asked to leave, and may be banned from future events pending the severity of the action. Please speak to the event host or contact info@michiganhumanists.org if you feel these expectations are being violated.