Why do you belong to a political Party??

[kentuck]

What is your agenda?

Do you belong to the Party just to be "one of the team"? Is it all just a game to see who can get to "60" first?

Or do you expect those that you vote for to do something for you? You expect a return on your investment, your vote? How do you feel when that doesn't happen?

Do you expect the person you vote for to stand up for certain principles ingrained within the Party structure, ie, labor issues and issues that help the lives of common people, such as Social Security and Medicare?

What should you do when you feel that your vote and trust have been betrayed? Should you leave the team? Or should you kick the person off the team that you feel betrayed your trust? Otherwise, why belong to a political Party at all?

[phantom power]

1. I want to see some motherfucking primary challenges in 2010.

Some motivational hangings.

[placton]

21. and in 2012

if Mr. Obama delivers as little as he seems to so far

[unpossibles]

2. a political party is a coalition of people who are willing to work together

to try to get common goals passed, even if they disagree in other areas. Being an old party, the Democrats have always been a pretty diverse party, and even when they piss me off by not doing X or Y the fact that the alternative - giving up A-W by letting their opposition win because I got pissed off - does me no good at all.

Most Democrats have many issues that may align with many other Democrats and many which don't. I know more than a few pro-gun Democrats, and even a couple of pro-choice Republicans. Things are seldom black and white in real life.

But the point of belonging to such a party which may be at odds with some personal beliefs is because there is power in numbers. Quid pro quo, and all that shit. I'll support you for X if you support me for Y.

[Echo In Light]

3. I've been an Indie for 10 yrs, although support local Dems who are progressive

"America has one political party with two right wings." ~ Gore Vidal

[enlightenment]

5. Me, too. Unaffiliated since I first registered in 1976.

You can support liberal causes and politicians without 'belonging' to any party.

[hfojvt]

17. but can you vote in primaries?

If you cannot, then how can you help the more progressive Democrat become the candidate in the general election?

Some states do have open primaries, which I don't care for either (because for one thing, it allows Republicans or conservatives to cross over and vote for the more conservative Democrat) but otherwise, how can you vote in primaries?

[enlightenment]

23. Well, as you said - it depends on where I am living.

If I feel a particular candidate needed primary 'help' (which isn't always true, sometimes they're 'safe') I will change my affiliation for the primary and then change it back.

For many years, in Colorado, I could do that at the polling station - literally. Fill out a card, vote, and fill out another card to go back to unaffiliated before I left. I don't live there anymore and I suspect it's changed to make it more difficult to do that. Where I live now (Nevada) it is a more complicated process and requires advance action. Still, I do it when necessary . . . though I may not after this last election cycle since they switched to caucusing, which I absolutely despise. My vote is my business and should not be subject to either group-think or coercion.

I choose to remain unaffiliated because I disagree - fundamentally - with the de facto American two-party system; I prefer parliamentary systems that encourage multiple parties and open, active coalition building (and yes, I understand that there are still majorities in those systems). Call it a small, very private protest.
It also annoys me a great deal when registered Democrats question my 'loyalty' to liberal/progressive causes simply because I choose not to officially join the club . . . that is precisely why I dislike the two-party system. It creates a false dichotomy - "yer either wi' us or agin' us".

Does that answer your question? :)

[hfojvt]

26. that seems like a lot of trouble to go to

just to avoid a party registration. I have only been to one caucus, there wasn't any coercion that I could see, and it was nice to meet other Edwards supporters, although I wish there had been more of us.

[enlightenment]

27. You're entitled to feel that way.

I don't.

:)

[AlinPA]

4. This is a good question. For me Association with an organization that I

share principles (realizing that some in the organization don't always live up to the same), and An expression of "who I'm fer".

re: betrayal- I'm a kick 'em out type, and my little tool now is ActBlue.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

6. I've always been a "lesser of two evils" Democrat and have no problem voting 3rd party.

Which I have done in the past and will undoubtedly do again. I've given up the nose-holding "not as bad" ritual that the party bosses count on progressives to perform.

[Taverner]

7. Primaries and that's the only reason

[Donkeykick]

8. I used to think...

that the Democrats and myself were on the same page on health care. Now? I'm confused. Maybe become an Independent voter. :shrug:

[placton]

ohhhhhh noooooo

shut up yo mouf - this is a Dem blog! :sarcasm:

[Brickbat]

9. So I can go to the state convention, which is always a blast. Also, because I like to bring my

concerns and preferences to an organization I generally support. When it does stuff I don't agree with, I am comforted by the fact that I never give the party money, only candidates. When my reps do something I don't agree with, I write them a letter. I have never felt betrayed enough to actively work against someone in my own party.

[xchrom]

10. a political party is the machine i use to

work toward the ideas and ideals that i want to see enacted for the good of the country.

if the political party consistently represents a machine that doesn't do that -- then it's of no use to me.

[dysfunctional press]

11. i don't.

in illinois, we register to vote, but we're not required to declare a party.

[Lyric]

12. I really have no idea anymore.

[kctim]

13. I expect the person I vote for to represent ME

Not the party and not others in a different area and if they don't represent MY views, I work as hard as I can to replace them with somebody who will.

[TorchTheWitch]

14. because it's the only way I'm allowed to vote

and why I've always been an Independent. Unfortunately, for all of my eligible to vote life there hasn't been a party that represents me.

[hfojvt]

15. I belong to a party so I can vote in primaries, if there are primaries

just because somebody is defeated in a primary does not mean they are 'kicked off the team' even if they are an incumbent.

On another note, I am tired of the incumbentocracy. In this theoretical government of, by and for the people, government is supposed to be made up of ordinary people. Farmers, blacksmiths, truckers, cashiers, teachers, comedians, and so on who run for office, serve a few terms and then go back to what they used to do. This business of people who make a 'career' out of 'public service' and are seemingly in 'their' seats until they die (or a miracle occurs and an incumbent is actually beaten (but then they just get a highly paid consulting or speaking or government job in DC) seems wrong to me.

[LuvNewcastle]

16. I don't belong to any party, although

I've always voted for Democrats. When I vote, I choose the person who can best represent me and the issues I care about. I do care if an elected official votes with the Party on critical issues such as health care. If an official consistently votes to undermine the objectives of the Democratic Party, I either vote against them or don't vote at all in that race.

[G_j]

18. simple, so I can vote in the primaries for progressives

who always lose

[kentuck]

19. Do you think it makes any difference what you say here on DU?

Or do you feel that your opinion is totally worthless?

[LuvNewcastle]

20. It's just a discussion board.

Sometimes I say something of worth, most of the time it's just talk.

[TexasObserver]

22. I'm a Democrat because the alternatives are all worse.

Been that way a long, long time. Always the same. Always undercut by our Sell-outs on the right. That's our party. It sucks less.

[KamaAina]

24. I do not belong to any organized political party.

I am a Democrat. :P

[frylock]

25. dts..

decline to state on my reg card.