Day: September 26, 2011

I’m just not getting over it. I’m truly disgusted with the Republican party, I’ve always been able to find some common ground and feel that in general they represented me. Over the past 10 years or so I’ve found myself far less represented.

The Florida Presidential debate served one purpose. It catalyzed my dis-satisfaction with the GOP.

For the first time in 30 years I’m shopping around for a new political party. I never actually “Shopped” before.

I registered to vote one day at a mall with my Mom. At the time I think I wanted to register as an Independent but then my Mom pointed out that as an Independent I wouldn’t be able to vote in presidential primaries. That made no sense to me, I also couldn’t see why anyone would register with a party that limited their voting ability.

I asked Mom what party Dad was. She said Republican and so I registered as a Republican. It was as simple as that. As things turned out, it was a choice that I was comfortable with until now.

As I’ve been shopping around I’ve been reading about the various parties by visiting their web sites.

While I feel I have little in common with the Democratic party I still checked out their web site. It just confirmed my feelings.  Within the first couple of paragraphs in their “About Us” page, they come across demonizing the wealthy. That’s Ironic since the leaders of the democratic party are in fact a damn sight wealthier than me (I’m after all, an evil wealthy Republican). As I read more about the party I really couldn’t get past the fact that it’s leaders today don’t compare to the formidable leadership of the partys past. So no, the democratic party is not for me.

I checked out the Tea Party they’re not  officially a party, but I’ve been accused by certain people of being a tea party sympathizer so I thought I’d check ’em out. Their web site is interesting since they’re pretty equally displeased with both the Democratic and the Republican parties. They point out a Failure in leadership on the part of both parties. This actually mirrors something I’ve been saying for years. But I’m not a Tea Party person… YET!

As I thought about it, I realized that I’d never really paid much attention to the “branding” the Republican party gives itself. When I went to the site I expected to see something about the party history, goals, core values, etc. You know, something to help a new voter decide if the party is for them. That’s not at all what I found. Sadly the party web site appears a bit amateurish and provides no information for a new voter. Instead the site looks more like a fear mongering site. It’s not until you look under the “Issues” section that you find information about the party position. I think I understand why so many friends looked at me like I had two heads when they found out I was a Republican.

I found this Quiz which says I’m a centrist with Libertarian leanings.

I thought “Hey the internet quiz may be right” so I went to the Libertarian party site. This party seems to fit my beliefs better than anything thus far. I have always been about personal responsibility, and minimal government. The question is if I register Libertarian do I give up any voting privileges?

The Green party caught my attention. But while I’m all for eco-responsibility, and grass roots community based politics. I’m still a capitalist pig, which seems a bit incompatible with the greens. However, if they present a candidate that I believe in, I’ll vote for them.

The Independent party… WOW! Not for me! I think my beliefs and these folks are completely at odds. That is the beauty of our system though. Everyone can have a say and be represented by people of like minds.

There are 53 political parties listed as active in the United States (Thank you Wikipedia). Many of these parties I’m not interested in.

I’ve never even heard of a large percentage of them. My thinking is, if I’ve never heard of them then it’s unlikely they will field a candidate either for president or for local offices that I’m interested in.

I was surprised to find a Nazi party and Socialist party active in the U.S. Who’d have thought these parties would exist in 21st century America? Well, political freedom is one of the things that our country was founded on…

At this point, pending further investigation about voting in primaries I think I’m going to be registering as Libertarian.