I don't affiliate myself with any particular party. I'm probably more Republican than Democrat, some of my feelings go left, some right. I tend to choose what candidate is available which has proposals I like concerning what I'm concerned about - and I really wish we had "None Of The Above" as an option for both local and national elections.
But I realize that not all people are like that. Some see their party affiliations as solid as some folks hold their religion - they're Catholics, Baptists, 7th Day Adventists or Mormons - and they are not going to shed those ideas to glom onto stuff which is practially heretical in it's content.
The problem arises, however, when you turn politics into your religion... that you're left with few to no options about what you're worshipping. Normally this isn't much of a problem - after the elections life goes on as normal for the vast majority of people. But when your politics have the status of a religion, you can't turn the switch off that easily.
And on the internet, there's PLENTY of reinforcement for your beliefs.
I've watched, with more than a little unhappiness, the selection of candidates this year. I felt Thompson would be the best bet on the Republican side - and there were no good bets on the Democratic side. The choices have devolved down to McCain, who I'm not wild about but I think he'd make a good President, putting country ahead of party or self - and on the Democratic side there's Obama and Hillary.
Sigh.
Neither, I believe, give a damn about the country. They're in it for their own reasons - not for service to the country. Hillary's making one last grab at the gold ring, Obama's an elitist who will tell us how the country should be run, not listen to the people about how they want things to go.
And I've often wondered why folks on the left got so strident in their support - until I realized they're not going on the strength of the candidates - they're going on a religious feeling that they SHOULD support the candidate because of the (D) after the name. But neither of them are what some would really like to see on the Democratic side.
And thus, we have
Buyer's Remorse. From the New York Times - Fight Leaves Democrats Questioning Prospects...It is possible that the Dems will win the election in November.
The battle between Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama over whether Mr. Obama belittled voters in small towns appears to have hardened the views of both candidates’ supporters and stirred anxiety among many Democrats about the party’s prospects in the fall.
But I believe if they do, it'll be the end of the party. Neither Hillary or Obama have what it takes to make a good President - and that'll be very apparent, very fast. If McCain wins, the Democrats will have 4 more years to come up with a comprehensive, workable platform and a candidate that isn't a 'least worst' sort of selection. They need that time to divorce themselves from the nutcases that have snagged the leadership and made sane governance virtually impossible. (As I've pointed out, the solution to high oil prices isn't to have hearings and grill the oil companies. Admittedly, it's fast and gives the illusion something is being done - but that's all it is.)
It's going to be an interesting summer, God help us...
J.