why would any political party in this country want to force members to sign a loyalty oath?
i can't imagine that loyalty oaths actually deter anyone from switching. if a person has a change of heart, or if they want to switch for purely crass political reasons, a loyalty oath won't ever deter them. plus loyalty oaths are pretty much unenforceable. you can't penalize someone for switching parties--the worst you can do is not let them back in if they try to switch back. but if people want to leave, telling them that they aren't welcome back certainly won't be an effective deterrent.
so i can't see any pluses, but there are some real minuses. first, requiring loyalty oaths is a mark of pure desperation. you don't require pledges of loyalty unless you're convinced that your ideology isn't powerful enough to keep people from leaving the fold. requiring a loyalty oath is a way of labeling yourself as deeply weakened and out of step with the direction of public sentiment. parties don't require pledges of loyalty when they are popular, they only do when they are afraid of people leaving. requiring a loyalty oath just highlights the party's weakness.
on top of that, requiring loyalty oaths reminds people of fascism, stalinism, maoism, and other totalitarian regimes. that's certainly not something a political party in the u.s. would normally want to be associated with. it's a double P.R. hit, first it says you're weak, then it says your authoritarian, all for no reasonable chance of stemming the tide of defections.
i simply don't get it. i'm sure it's not fun if you're a party leader and watch the politicians you support break ranks and lay members leave the fold in droves. but trying to shackle them to the party, especially with "shackles" that don't have a chance of holding anyone, is simply a bad way to address the problem. besides, political parties are supposed to be a means to an end, not an end in itself. if people are leaving, maybe it's better to explore why your message isn't working anymore then to try a sure-fire failure like a loyalty oath.
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