Political parties are really just a way for it's citizens to consume politics. People call themselves republicans or democrats and feel that they are sudently part of the democratic process and part of what makes America tick. Buying into a political party is going to McDonnalds and believing you are getting nutrition.
This political system requires partly loyalty. Yet democrasy doesn't work when people treat political parties as their favorite sport teams. How often do you hear of a lefty going right or vice versa? Hardly ever. However the only real way for citizens to enforce acountability is by voiting against a canditate based on their previous actions. A punishment which becomes imposible to apply when a large portion of the population is blindly loyal to the candidate.
People are sold the idea of party principles. Even though the actions of elected officials rarely follow the party line. People are sold one thing and get something totally differnt and we don't know this since political decisions that actually matter rarelly get reported because they are complicated and labbled as boring by the media. People place way too much faith in their politicians and I find rather madening. After all each of us give them thousands of dolars a year to so they can run our country. Shouldn't we try to keep an eye on what they do with our money? Yet this faith, is part of the party line. Questioning is treason.
I realize that political parties must exist. I also realize that this is just one example of the trivialization of our political process which is in turn just one symptom of a weakened political system. What I don't know, is what to do about it. Join a third party?
