Family events meant we missed a couple of issues of this newsletter. Thank you for your patience.My column yesterday takes off from a column by Prof. Segundo Romero and, as I mentioned in my column, his piece appeared as I've been working on a two-part podcast. So this newsletter serves as an introduction to the topic with accompanying readings.The main points I've been arguing are these:Political parties no longer bridge leadership and followership by providing shared principles, because parties are generally top-heavy instruments with hardly any real followers. Many reasons for this but there is a functional one widely overlooked: since 1987 the most basic of local governments, the barangay, have been deemed "non-political" and indeed, removed from the standard electoral cycle. This means no national parties can have real grassroots.The parties that continue to function beyond being mere electoral vehicles, do so because they are subsidiaries of large corporate conglomerates. So their participation in national elections is purely transactional.The civic aspect of party participation and identity has atrophied to the extent it's lost any desirability or relevance among the electorate. This is part of a broader trend of organized groups being increasingly unable to attract membership --the exception being fandoms.