Blog 2: Political Parties

A French writer, Alphonse Karr once said "The more things change, the more they stay the same." Skepticism of political parties is by no means a modern idea. Our founding fathers were uncertain as to whether political parties would unify people with common beleifs, or tear the country apart into separate groups. Throughout history, the influence of political party loyalites on voting patterns has varied back and forth. During certain time periods, people voted mainly based on what party they belonged to, and other times people took less heed to party loyalites, voting based on thier agreement with specific representatives.
For the upcoming election, the idea of voting based on the specific candidate rather than on allegiance to a party has re-entered as a common style of voting. The whole idea behind electing officials should be to represent our opinions. Voting should be centered around choosing someone best suited for the position, voted in based on their policies and position on certain issues, not just to blindlessly vote for someone becasue they represent a certain party. The whole reason for the initial emergence of political parties, and registering in a party is to join a group that supports your views. If a candidate from an opposing party presents ideas that agree with your own beliefs better than a candidate from your own party, the candidate you agree with should receive the vote.
Americans should have more loyalty to their own thoughts and beliefs than to a group whose purpose is to represent common beliefs. With so many issues, and so many contrasting views, it is almost impossible to find a party that is just right. There are so many different political parties, and it seems as though no specific party agrees perfectly with all of my beliefs. It is therefore, important for Americans to choose for themselves what they feel about certain controversial social and economic issues, and vote according to personal beleifs. Often times, it is feasible to select a party that agrees with almost all of ones political standings, with a few variations of disagreement here and there. However, when ideas over a specific issue waver greatly from that of the party, and combat personal ideas, Americans shoulf remain loyal to that idea rather than the belief attributed to the political party of which they belong.
Today, we see more and more people casting their votes to a candidate from the opposite party, or simply registering under the Independent party. In elections such as the 2008 presidential election, many citizens are extremely informed, and with such extensive invovlement and awareness, many Americans support a certain candidate regardless of political party ties. However, in state and local elections many people vote based on party allegiance, not the candidate themselves, because of a lack of knowledge of the specific ideas of candidates. In such instances, political parties are good. Political parties allow citizens a sense of what common political beliefs a candidate would most likely have, and suggest that a candidate from one's own party is likely to share beliefs on many issues because of the commonality of the party, without having to extensively research candidates.
Personal ideas certainly should take precedence over party loyalty, and people should "swing" to the opposite side when necessary. This freedom of moving back and forth without feeling obligated to vote in a certain way is one of the beauties of the US's political system, and makes the United States who we are today.