Kevin - I think said "Insofar as a party of choice is concerned...I have none. I prefer to listen to what each nominee has to say and which will best represent my interests irrespective of party affiliation."
Amen to that.....lets look at the polictiacal parities over time. After all we are a democratic republic, not a democracy as we have been brainwashed to belive.
First you had the Federalist (1792-1816) formed by Alexander Hamilton - opposed by the Democratic Republican Party which was formed in 1792 as well. The Democratic Republic Party (Anti Federalist movement and on of the oldest parties) was formed by Thomas Jefferson and JAmes Madison. This party lasted until about 1824 in its true form.
The Dem-Rep Party then split after the war of 1812. "Jeffersonian purists" was just 1 of the parties that came out of the split. Initially "Republican Party" Jeffersonians were labeled "democratic" by the opposing Federalists. There several others that helped form the modern Democratic Party. Sometime in the 1830's the Democratic Party truly arose.
But in 1850 anti slavery democrats left the party and joined with others from dwindling parites (many minor parties then) and became the National Republican Party. The National Republicans went on to form the Whig party.
When the Civil War broke the Democrats broke into the War Democrats and Peace Democrats and the Southern Dems went on to form their own party, which was still the Demorcrats just a seperate variant.
In 1854 the Republica Party was formed and dubbed the Grand Old Party (GOP) altho there are several variations wether "Grand" is right or not. The Republican Party was formed as an opposition to Slavery entering Kansas and similiar to the Whig Party. Lincoln was the first Republican President. In 1864 the majority of Republicans united with the War Dems to make the Radical Democracty Party.
In 1918 Roosevelt upset at loosing nomination spilt off with a bunch of the Republicans and formed the Progressive Party aka Bull Moose Party.
Whew, and on and o n and on and on it goes until we get to what we have now. So, I am not sure why everyone has such strong ties to the current "parties" afterall, if we don't like the ideals anymore we will just split off and make a new one. If you check on Wicipedia there is quite and extensive list of all the parties - I never knew there were so many actually. I found it a bit confusing to keep the facts of who split when and why straight between the parties which is why I believe the same - listen to what each has to say then decide. Party allegence means nothing. It makes me angry that I don't get a chance to vote in the primarys because I refuse to declare a party. I don't think that is fair to me. The lady at the desk said - oh, your independent. I said no, I don't declare a party. She insisted I have to in order to vote today so which is it. I said neither and she told me unless I declare a party I couldn't vote in this paticular election. I find that to be the biggest bunch of sh*t I have heard in my life but somehow that is the way it is. Just because I may like a democrate for one thing and a republican for another doesn't mean that I shouldn't be able to vote to make sure the one I like gets the nomination. See my point????
The whole system is a bunch of BS. Like someone said earlier "I really don't mind the jab since I do not hold the Democratic Party in any higher esteem than the Republican Party. The current two party system sucks. That is why I am registered as an Independent. Possibly a multiple party system and proportional representation would be better"
another amen.....I have said that for years just read the above formation of the parties....people think I am crazy, I know.
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