What is the value of party politics?

[Volobjectitarian]

Per title question - it saves people from using any thought whatsoever when they are deciding which Master should hold the whip.

[animalcrazy]

Originally Posted by jacktravern

Honest answer OP, this will sound cruel, but the average person in not very bright, not very open minded, not very strong, and feels the need to be led by somebody, even without questioning why they follow. Politicians know this.

Most people, if you gave them a checklist, probably favor things on the right and left, but feel pressured by family and community to keep voting the way they've been doing for years and then wonder why things never change for them.

The Independent party or Libertarian should easily be the 2 biggest parties in the country, but yet we keep electing either Republicans or Democrats that feature a lot of radicals on both sides.

Best practice would be if future candidates have no party affiliation listed in front of their name. The numbers would be really interesting then on how things would turn out.

Perfection. Most people vote by the cult of personality. You're right about people voting with the tribe. "I voted for Trump for my son." "I don't know what's going on, I voted for Trump for my granddaughter." Those are some of the responses I heard. "I'll vote for Bernie because college will be free." Yeah right. Not on my dime. I was never a Democrat because of that mentality. I'm not a Republican because of the toxic flagrant corruption. "They all do it," should not be normalized and accepted.

I agree with you about the Libertarian's. For now, I'm an Independent. What, is there two in Independents in the Senate? Angus King of Maine? Bernie Sanders? Two in Congress? Why aren't we voting in more Independents? Tribalism? It's unfortunate isn't it. The only way both parties will change is for we the people to stop being good sheeple.

[Larry Caldwell]

Originally Posted by RollsRoyce1

I've never really been much of a party politics person.

My Grandfather, who fought for this country in World War 2 and was a huge patriot was a democrat. As a result, most of my family was as well.

When I was younger, I leaned more "right" In fact, at 18 years old, a co-worker of mine once said "We need more young Republicans like you"
As I got older I began to lean left, and at one point went so far as to consider myself a democrat.

Now, I definitely lean left of center, but the thought of aligning myself with any party just seems ridiculous to me.

So I am curious, for those of you on this board who "identify as" a republican or a democrat, what am I missing?

I've seen people, on both "sides", who don't pay attention to politics at all and when it's time to vote just go in and vote for their party. And I've seen people who do pay attention to politics who flip flop on major issues all of the time based on which way their party is leaning. So I understand why it's important for the leaders of the parties to recruit as many people as they can, but I just don't understand the point of it from the individual standpoint.....However, maybe I'm missing something.

There's really no need for this thread to become political. I'm not interested in joining either side, and you'd have to be a complete brain dead tool to reply to this post with a derogatory remark about the other "team"

I just mean, I'm not asking "why are you a republican/democrat?" I don't care which party you are with. I'm just trying to find out what the advantage is of associating yourself with one of two major parties?

A two party system is essential to maintaining the illusion of freedom of choice while maintaining control over the population. Control over the parties rests with a very small group of people. With only a few exceptions, the same people control both parties. The system is designed to prevent a third party from gaining control, through closed primaries, winner take all elections, gerrymandering and dark money.

Republican or Democrat is just there to offer people the illusion of choice. It doesn't matter which one you elect, nothing changes. Both parties march to the beat of their masters. Neocons and Neolibs are singing the same background vocals. Four people now control every media news outlet in the US. That was not an accident.