Why are so many people on this site so focused on political affiliation?

Question

instead of seeking candidates that will help us all? What is so great about blindly following and defending any political party? What happened to learning facts and making choices based on who is most qualified and who will do the best, most ethical job?Evey day it is question after question about why are republicans.... Why are liberals.... What about asking how can we protect our freedom, get health care, work, keep the money we earn, use our taxes wisely, eliminate tax waste, protect our soldiers from needless combat, protect our resourses, etc. etc? While we are obsesing about what side we are on, both sides are robbing us blind, and endangering our very lives.

Answer 1

Partisan politics is sometimes not good because party members and their sympathizers are no longer objective in addressing issues but hold on to the party platform even when it is already wrong.

Answer 2

I agree with you,
it seems people are too obssesed with labeling and belonging to a party. It might be that Americans feel a connection through 'traddition' and belonging. In any case, i believe we should judge every candidate on their own merit, and exclude to what party he belongs to. I will be the first one to give credit where it is due, even if that means praising someone from another party. Maybe if more time was spent on evalutating the issues at hand and different parties co-operated we might make more progess.

(I think the same basic idea can be applied to religion. Instead of paying so much attention to what "religion" one belongs to, we should seek unity and harmony. For in the end, almost all religions strive to do well and spread good, their methods and personal beliefs might differ from one to the other, but most have the same end in mind.)

Answer 3

wondering,

people align themselves with a particular political party
for the same reason that they attend a particular church
--that's the way they were brought up

it would be interesting
to know if
party affiliation
is stronger in older people
and more tenuous in younger people


"learning facts" about politicians
and choosing who is "most qualified"
is a crapshoot

first, you have to find balanced reporting about a candidate's words and actions.
and with so many in the media
fancying themselves personalities,
it's unusual for them to air both sides of an issue

and then,
even a competent reporter
is frequently
in possession
of only part
of the real story
--but he (thus, you) wouldn't know that. and, you'd be using this partial info. to influence your decision about the candidate


citizens are basically
good
and well-intentioned

none of us are fools,
wanting to support a political agenda
that will hurt us and our country.

each voter
really believes
that s/he is making the "right" decision
for current and future generations

we all have issues that are dearer to us
than others
and rarely do we find a politician
who we believe reflects our every stand
so, we try to stay with the guy who we
think is most heavily balanced in our favor

that's who we vote for

coincidently,
many times
s/he is a member of the party
that our parents followed


we're not "obsessing"
about our politics

we're just having a good time
being americans

Answer 4

Although I see to my utter displeasure both parties united in what I believe to be one of the worst (if not the worst) thing possible for America, I will always believe in the ideology of conservatism over liberalism. The thing I was talking about is making our government larger and larger which only makes it less able to handle the job of governing this country. The bigger they get the smaller we become as individuals which to my horror includes our choices. I just heard on the news this evening that the government is going to wage war on fast food places like Wendy's and McDonald's. They are going to outlaw the oil they are using because it's bad for us. Just like smoking. It's so ridiculous to ban smoking because it's bad for you but not make it illegal because they want the tax dollars. Kids are too fat so they outlaw snack machines in schools. But take away or limit competitive sports and pe because some don't do as well as others and it hurts their self esteem. I think the next step is the fat police, don't laugh I can see them roaming the fast food places and when they see a fat guy or gal old or young eating a whopper or a big mack shouting through their bull horn saying"you there in the elastic sweat pants PUT THE BURGER DOWN AND BACK SLOWLY AWAY FROM THE TABLE! What ever happened to free choice? They don't think we have enough common sense to do the right thing, and sometimes we don't but I say it's none of the governments damn business! But I have gotten away from answering your question. I am for whoever believes (and proves it by how they vote on issues not by lip service) in smaller government less taxes a strong military and leave the economy to the people and with a good economy and even less taxes we won't have to rely on the government for personal things like health care we can handle it ourselves! I don't want them in education either they have really screwed that up. I could go on and on but I think you see where I'm coming from for what it's worth..Dang now I want some chili fries and I'm out of ciggies!

Answer 5

Personally I'm hesitant to support someone who is a member of a party that does nothing that I can support. Members of congress often leave their state with one set of ideas only to get to Washington and join up with everything Their Party wants them to. I'm not saying I wouldn't support someone of the opposing party - but I would wonder why they were part of such a confused party.
Why not support independents? Because they have no power - see above.
How do make a difference? Get involved with the party most aligned with your ideals. Or get involved with a lobbying group that supports your ideals.

Answer 6

The only thing I can come up with is they enjoy being lemmings, blindly following some ridiculous political dogma. They may be too afraid to think for themselves, so they rely on this crutch to help them along.

Really, Independent is the only way to be, in my perhaps not-so-humble opinion. I detest following the crowd; it could lead to falling off of a cliff.

ANY political party, even the one mentioned above my answer, is worthless. It requires one to give up their ability to think, reason, and decide for themselves.

Answer 7

A J Ayer said that we all seek to belong to a larger enterprise.

Loyalty to a political party or ideology is part of our identity.

Answer 8

Living human kind is at loss on what went wrong out there and going in circles without a solution in overcoming the problems out there when our creator is there at hand to help out but could'nt be bothered with our creator since the dirty old men in office wanted to be self independence on planet earth.

Answer 9

I wish you write this letter to the real man!! Who is Bush!! Because tha's how americans feel!!

Answer 10

There's only one party I like:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/americanleftparty/