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> It's easy to look at the political parties of a state's elected representatives and make assumptions about the people there but it's very important to conside

> It's easy to look at the political parties of a state's elected representatives and make assumptions about the people there but it's very important to consider the actual people being elected before you draw conclusions about the politics of the citizens. I didn't draw any conclusions, they said they were Republican in Missouri who disagreed with the Governor. I simply asked if that made them "re-think" their their affiliation. That so many people assumed I was asking them to switch to Democrat is evidence of how dug in our society has become. It contains two big assumptions. 1. Re-assessing your affiliation based on political performance is the same as switching to another party 2. If you aren't a Republican, you must be a Democrat

wara23arish 5y ago
I am an American as of 2 years ago. The whole gov/system is by default 2 party system. Some of the questions that you are asked during your citizenship interview is what are the two main parties. Im not saying I like it. But it’s a fair assumption to make when literally all voters only consider the two parties.
- long_time_gone 5y ago
  There is a difference between voting for one of the two parties (althought there are obviously more parties) and choosing to affiliate yourself with a specific party. In the US, the largest political party is "Independent" [1] with 46% of the population identifying that way. [1] https://news.gallup.com/poll/15370/party-affiliation.aspx https://news.gallup.com/poll/15370/party-affiliation.aspx
  - wara23arish 5y ago
    Interesting, Im not sure why that question was picked though. You are given choices of “identifying” as Rep/Dem/Ind. Only two of them are real parties. What does it mean to be independent then? Is it more like undecided? Im not sure you can call that a political party.
    - long_time_gone 5y ago
      > What does it mean to be independent then? Is it more like undecided? I'm sure it means different things to different people. For me, it means that I don't follow any party's platform in lockstep. I try to judge each candidate and policy based on merits, not team affiliation and have voted for multiple parties over the years (Republican, Democratic, Libertarian, Green).

wara23arish 5y ago

I am an American as of 2 years ago. The whole gov/system is by default 2 party system. Some of the questions that you are asked during your citizenship interview is what are the two main parties. Im not saying I like it. But it’s a fair assumption to make when literally all voters only consider the two parties.

long_time_gone 5y ago
There is a difference between voting for one of the two parties (althought there are obviously more parties) and choosing to affiliate yourself with a specific party. In the US, the largest political party is "Independent" [1] with 46% of the population identifying that way. [1] https://news.gallup.com/poll/15370/party-affiliation.aspx https://news.gallup.com/poll/15370/party-affiliation.aspx
- wara23arish 5y ago
  Interesting, Im not sure why that question was picked though. You are given choices of “identifying” as Rep/Dem/Ind. Only two of them are real parties. What does it mean to be independent then? Is it more like undecided? Im not sure you can call that a political party.
  - long_time_gone 5y ago
    > What does it mean to be independent then? Is it more like undecided? I'm sure it means different things to different people. For me, it means that I don't follow any party's platform in lockstep. I try to judge each candidate and policy based on merits, not team affiliation and have voted for multiple parties over the years (Republican, Democratic, Libertarian, Green).