Guess I'm Just Not a Party Animal

by Andrea M. Newton
October 23, 2007

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I always thought elections were about selecting the best person to do a particular job.

Apparently I was wrong. According to the Official Presidential Strategy Survey that I just got in the mail from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, it's about getting Republicans out of office.

According to several Republican websites I've visited recently, it's about keeping Democrats out of the White House.

Nevermind that I'm not a Democrat, and have written to the DCCC before to inform them of that. They continue to send me mailings and make phone calls to me from time to time, impressing on me how important it is for Democrats to get out there and vote so "we" can get (or keep) control of Congress or the White House or some other governmental branch. I'm sure Republicans would do the same, if they ever got ahold of my contact info.

The junk mail and telephone solicitations don't bother me -- well, no more than any I get from other places. What really concerns me is the attitude that ALL political parties have:

We need to beat the other guys.

Contrary to what both major political parties would have you believe, elections weren't devised to be a competition between two groups of people (or three, or four, or however many political parties you want to throw into the mix). They were intended to be a way for the American people to select individuals to make the day-to-day decisions required to run our country.

Pretty much the most extensive job search, application, and interview process you'll ever be part of.

But because of the essentially two-party system we've migrated to, the election process has become adversarial. Dems bash Republicans. Conservatives attack liberals. And both sides keep insisting that "we need to keep control of Congress and the White House."

As a result, Democrats focus on furthering Democratic party agendas, and Republicans fixate on Republican party goals. And America's needs get ignored.

Don't believe me? From the DCCC survey itself:

Please rank the following Democratic priorities in their order of importance.

Shouldn't that read "please rank the following AMERICAN priorities"?

Of course, Republicans aren't without their own faults in this area. Although I didn't receive a survey from them laced with none-too-vague criticisms of Democrats, they do have an entire section on the GOP.com website called Dem Facts. And it ain't pretty.

When I looked at it today, the front page of the Democratic Party's website featured an article with the headline Republican Dirty Tricks Back In California.

And the Republican site had an article shaming Democrats because "The Democrats' new legislation continues to allow States to avoid covering poor children first."

The list goes on. Political parties have gotten so caught up in their own success that they've forgotten that, at our most basic, voters are not Democrats, or Republicans, or Libertarians, or any other party -- first and foremost, we are Americans.

What concerns me is that too many voters have forgotten this, too.

Personally, I'd like to see political parties banned. How many times have we seen efforts to resolve some problem stymied because Republicans refused to support a Democrat-proposed bill, or because Democrats refused to get behind an initiative the Republicans put forward? Maybe if we banned political parties, politicians would stop seeing themselves as Democrats or Republicans and start seeing themselves as what they're supposed to be -- representatives of all American people.

And maybe voters would stop worrying about which party a candidate belongs to, and focus on his qualifications for the job.

As I said earlier, I'm not a Democrat. I'm also not a Republican, or a Libertarian, or a member of any other political party. When it comes time for me to vote, I look at a candidate's track record, at his stand on the issues and how they align with what I believe needs to be done to improve our country. And then I vote. Sometimes for a Democrat. Sometimes for a Republican. Sometimes for a gasp! third-party candidate.

Because if you ask me, on Election Day or any other, I will tell you that I am, quite simply, American.