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comment by GalacticaActual
GalacticaActual  ·  4275 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Romney and Bain Capital: The Secrecy is Killing Him
I claim to be independent, but what I really mean is that I don't like partisanship and how deeply a part of government it has become (or always has been). After, for example, watching congress put the Affordable Care Act up for vote over 33 times now, splitting the vote down party lines, wasting time and money for what amounts to a brute force denial of service attack, it has become apparent to me that that each party we have in our political system today exists solely to make sure the other party loses the next election. The only people who lose that game are the American people, and I'm tired of it.

If there's anything I want to be "independent" from, it's partisan tomfoolery. Unfortunately, I think this is more of a systemic problem, and has more to do with in-group mentality and human nature than the nuance of politics, as it were. If that's the case, then I'm completely screwed and I should give up on seeing things turn around.

To comment on the part where you probably don't believe me, if you were going to put a gun to my head and make me fill out a ballot sheet, I will vote for the secular/populist/socially liberal candidate every time, regardless of which party they came from. This time, it's the Democrats by a slim margin (I could argue that both candidates are merchant class sellouts, but I digress). So I suppose you could say I'm a de-facto Democrat, but I still identify as Independent, since I vote according to whichever candidate represents me better, and not according to party affiliation. When people say they're independent, I think that's what they mean.





scrimetime  ·  4275 days ago  ·  link  ·  
Fair enough.
GalacticaActual  ·  4275 days ago  ·  link  ·  
You're right though, everyone seems to think they're the exception. I don't think anyone is truly independent in the sense that they don't share ideals with either party, and I would certainly agree with that.

I like to think of it this way: I'm not a Yankee fan or a Red Sox fan; I'm a baseball fan. I like to watch a good game, and I appreciate the game itself more than any individual team. Right now, baseball sucks and I don't like watching it. That's what being independent means to me.

user-inactivated  ·  4275 days ago  ·  link  ·  
You could be on to something with your baseball comparison. The polarizing "us or them" over-competitiveness American way has spread from sports to politics. Maybe the two are related. It's part of our culture, our national identity. We're raised to pick a team and compete. This was inevitable.
thenewgreen  ·  4275 days ago  ·  link  ·  
It's pretty ethnocentric to think that a competitive nature is somehow uniquely american. I'd invite you to go to a football (soccer) game anywhere in the world or any other popular national sport. Competitiveness is a human characteristic and the way it manifests itself in both our sports and our politics is not unique to us. The political process the world over is similarly partisan the difference is, the best places have figured out how to keep BIG money less a part of the process while we have figured out more and more ways to make it the essential component.
user-inactivated  ·  4275 days ago  ·  link  ·  
It is ethnocentric. I would have elaborated more but I'm mobile. Your point about the rest of the world keeping BIG money less a part of their political process than it is in America can also be applied to American sports. Capitalism is Competition. I should have said Commercialism is the American Way. It ruins everything.
thenewgreen  ·  4275 days ago  ·  link  ·  
"commercialism is the American way". -point taken.
thenewgreen  ·  4275 days ago  ·  link  ·  
I actually think Chris Rock said it well
GalacticaActual  ·  4275 days ago  ·  link  ·  
I'll buy that for a dollar.

In a flourish of irony and Shyamalanian Twistery, I say we create a political party for people who hate political parties. What will we call it?

blimpy  ·  4272 days ago  ·  link  ·  
I vote for the Shyamalanian Twistery Party. Though that may already be a the name of a Bangladeshi reform group.
thenewgreen  ·  4275 days ago  ·  link  ·  
The Donner party? -Nah, that's already been used.