Why do we have political parties? I’ve ran it through my head so many times; God knows I’ve had the time to. It really doesn’t make sense though, that every person must have a strict on often stereotyped label of what they believe in, economically, politically, and socially. What about those who find themselves part of the blurry, thick line that separates Democrats and Republicans? Sure, you can call yourself a member of the Libertarian party, or the Green party, but then what? Everyone will ignore you for the two main competitors, the Elephant and the Ass.

What about me, who is economically and politically republican, but when in the presence of social issues, a democrat? What about all the others like me who can’t strictly define themselves as any given party member?

I wouldn’t be willing to vote for Obama because I honestly believe his economic policies are ruining our nation’s financial position. I also wouldn’t be willing to vote for Bachman because I can’t in good conscience vote for someone who thinks Christianity should be forced upon me at school, and that Gay Marriage should be banned. Those two are the most likely to win though, as far as I can tell.
It honestly sickens me. I can’t understand why the hypothetical man in the middle, a brilliant economist and a believer in equal rights can’t manage but to get a single word out into the ocean that’s inevitably created by the more ‘obvious’ choices. So many great candidates are pushed aside simply because they aren’t a perfect republican or strongly democrat.

It also seems that anyone can say they’re Democrat just because they thing Gay Marriage should be legal, while they may be completely ignorant to their implied support of the changes that ‘their party’ would also have done to the economy. This person may well have rejected the Democrat train of thought on these issues, but because there is no ‘inbetween’ for them to choose from or even hear of, they are forced to support something they don’t actually believe in, in order to support something they do. If they don’t want to support what they don’t think is right, then they can’t support what they do think is right. There is no exception to this rule, there is no loophole in which you can support only what you want to. There is no way to voice both opinions at once.

There is no way in which the current setup of our government can fix this, and as far as I can see, unfortunately, there is no way to change the government to allow the fixes to happen.