Is anyone else tired of not really “falling in” with either of the two major parties?

27 comments

1. Participate in primary elections and answer surveys. There’s a 0% chance a new party will join the forefront due to first past the post. But you can do your small part of changing a parties baseline by participating in primaries and letting folks know where your priorities are.

2. I like that Alaska has pivoted to ranked choice. Still end up with huge party shares, but seems like a better method of voting for people whose interests splinter between partisan issues.

3. Not really. I don’t think both sides are extremists. Democrats are practically what the GOP was 30 years ago.

   Every few years I’ll take a few alignment quizzes like [ISideWith](https://www.isidewith.com/political-quiz) and my “alignment” is pretty obvious and I have 75-90% agreement with the stated policies of the Democrats and more like 15-20% with the GOP.

   If you’re concerned about extremists, IMO that’s what all of the other parties seem to present. Greens, Libertarians, Constitution…these are the people who are so far off center they can’t gain any traction whatsoever.

4. Vote in primaries. A third party is a pipe dream with our election system. If you want better candidates at the final election, then get involved earlier in the process instead of waiting for the party favorite to become the candidate

5. Why would you expect to 100.0% in agreement with all of the stereotypical positions of any one party? 🙂 How is that realistic?

   Have you looked at parties *other* than the two major ones? What if you’re more aligned with one of those?

   To me it’s a la carte based on the position. Within any given party, candidates Amy, Ben, Cindy, and Dan are going to have varying takes on the issues, what they prioritize, and what their own personal strong point are.

   You are free to vote however the hell ya like, on any position, in any election, based on whatever you weigh out to be the best compromise of things.

6. I find both parties to be useless, full of shit, only cater to rich donors, and only want to make the other side look back. Neither Democrats nor Republicans give a single, solitary fuck about the average American. They both enjoy taxing the ever living hell out of me too and then spending that money on asinine bullshit. Also, they both enjoy telling me what I can and cannot do. If what I’m doing doesn’t violate the rights of anyone else, leave me the fuck alone.

   I tend to vote third party though since I think Republicans are quasi-fascists and Democrats are useless and out of touch. I used to vote heavily Libertarian, but that party went to hell too so now I just research out candidates and pick whatever one sucks the least.

7. The Democratic party is pretty much in the center so I’m not sure how exactly they are extreme. You can argue that the Democratic party has quite far left individuals within it, sure. That’s because the Democratic party is a coalition.

   Let’s look at Biden’s first two years, a federal Dem trifecta. They failed to do anything remotely extreme. The majority of the population supports things like raising minimum wage, and Biden’s administration couldn’t do it, even being completely Dem controlled, because not even all Dems were on board.

   Look at it this way: our “far left” can barely influence the Democratic party as a whole. They get the Dems to say “hmm, let’s think about that and incorporate it into the platform if it’s popular with the general public.” Then you have our “far right” which basically has full control of the Republican party.

8. I think the majority of Americans cannot be boxed into the belief system of a single party. Although, many of them will conform their own beliefs to fit the party they most agree with.

   It’s crucial that we take measures to eliminate the 2 party system. E.g. ranked choice voting

9. I typically vote with one party because the other one’s totally abhorrent to me. But I’m actually pretty centrist, so I generally feel like I’m voting with an asterisk every time.

   I basically feel like I have positions that are at odds with both. Just one’s a lot less offensive to me, and it’s key to support them so the really horrible party doesn’t win, so I vote like that.

10. No, because the Democratic Party is not all that progressive IMO. Is Joe Biden extremist? How? He’s so centrist leaning right to me. I voted for him but I’d prefer someone more progressive

11. I prioritize my values and vote for the candidate/party which best represents the values I prioritize.

    I do it consciously but I think that’s what literally everyone does. It’d be nuts if you agreed with a politician, or really anyone, 100% on everything.

    I have conservative friends who say they’re not against trans rights or abortion but they vote for Republicans because of gun laws or economics or whatever. Well, that means you care about gun laws more than you care about access to abortion.

    Similarly, plenty of pro-gun liberals vote for Democratic candidates because they care about Democratic positions that they value higher.

    Sure you can vote third party but I actually agree with a lot of third parties even less than I do mainstream ones.

12. Not really it’s pretty common. They’re both big tent parties so there’s no real attempt for them to reach out ideologically, more so cultural.

13. No. I’m a solid democrat. Left of most of the old guard, but still a democrat.

14. What extremes are the liberals touting that you’re not comfortable with?

15. >major parties have become parties of extremes

    People say this, but, with perhaps the exception of some social issues, it’s just not that true.

    “Leftists” in other modern democracies talk about things like Universal Basic Income (and not in the Andrew Yang, substitute-for-social-safety-net kind of way), nationalizing industries, guaranteed equal schooling, post-secondary education, healthcare, transportation, and other rights. They talk about severe restrictions on employers’ rights to fire someone, mandatory living wages, mandatory paid time off, mandatory paternity and maternity leave, and more. They talk about signifcant restrictions on corporate power, high regulation of personal information, and mandatory individual action for the public good.

    [Democrats are essentially republicants from 1956](https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2014/oct/28/facebook-posts/viral-meme-says-1956-republican-platform-was-prett/)- (minus the God-calling and plus a stronger take on equal rights, and perhaps a stronger insistance on national health care, which of course was propsoed by that [Pinko Leftist Richard Nixon](https://www.commonwealthfund.org/blog/2017/lessons-universal-coverage-unexpected-advocate-richard-nixon) ).

    The right has moved so far right since about 1980 that the Democratic party is a center, or center-left party. It is far, far, far from extreme.

    The only extreme positions you get are some extreme reactions to extreme positions from the Republican Party. In response to all the complete trans bans in sports, you get some members of the Democratic Party demanding unlimited access of trans youth to sports of their gender identity, regardless of whether that trans youth has taken hormone treatments. In response to the “don’t say gay” and book bans in schools, you get some Democrats suggesting that teachers shoudl be able to say whatever they want about sexuality and that there should be no ability to filter any books in schools. In response to draconian abortion bans without proper exceptions, you get some people willing to say that they’ll take anyone, including minors, across state lines for abortion care even if the parents aren’t consulted. But just because some of these reactions might seem “extreme” doesn’t mean the Democratic Party is extreme. (And no, I don’t think it goes the other way because the Republican extremism I’m referring to isn’t just a couple of kooks or loud “news” talking heads, it’s reflected in statutes actually passed, and legal positions taken by public officials in lawsuits.)

    Saying that both parties are extreme is simply a false equivalence.

16. It’s funny what Americans consider extreme, considering anywhere else in the Western world, America’s leftist politics are more centric.

17. I’ve always been a centrist, but since 2016 Republicans view me to the left of Joseph freaking Stalin.

18. He leans right. If he was left, he would gladly acknowledge it. Anyone who doesn’t want to admit is usually on the right

19. Bipartisan politics are meant to keep us all divided. Both equally don’t care about us. They’re two wings cut from the same bird and working for the same team.

20. How is each party extreme? Explain in detail please.

21. Gods yes. I can’t abide the lunatic fringe on either side, and they appear to be driving both wagons.

    “Centrist” is almost a dirty word these days, but that’s what I am. I can’t stand the all or nothing attitude so common on both sides. Why can’t I support things like a strong military, secure borders, and a less intrusive central government, but also human rights, better healthcare, and reform of the justice system? Where is the party that will speak for who I believe are the majority of Americans?

22. I’m mostly tired of the two parties

23. Unless you’re a billionaire both parties are aligned against your interests.

24. Neither side care about we the people, we have more incommon with eachother than a bunch of crooks.

25. I’m just tired of there being only two options and both are geriatric old white rich fucks who think they know what’s best for the American people.

    Also tired of being told by voting for the independent party I am apparently voting against democracy and allowing bigots and racists win an election.

26. Speaking as someone who works in politics professionally irl: *nobody* falls 100% in line with the parties – not even the actual politicians in the parties!

    Within the parties, even at the top level, there is a tremendous amount of disagreement about what’s important, what they stand for, what stances they take, etc. Even among people who do superficially agree on something, there is often quite a bit of nuance into why they believe it, or how.

    *Most* voters will vote *more* for one party than the other, on the basis of what issues or reasons are most important to them.

    This idea that the political parties are monoliths and that everyone within them agrees with each other completely or at least is supposed to? That’s a product of social media polarization. Most voters and most politicians are not actually that extreme (but a lot of prominent or prolific politicians have *become* prominent and prolific because they’re good at acting that way).

    Get off the internet – not necessarily literally, but just like…stop subscribing to politicized social media. Focus on your local, county, and state news, and don’t waste your time trying to keep up with the day to day happenings of national news.

    How familiar are you with your local politicians? Your city councilors or state assembly-members? The voters who are extreme enough to plaster their house and car with signs are very visible, but they are rarely the majority; how are most of the people around you voting?

    **tl;dr social media makes the political parties look a lot more extreme than the majority of people in them actually are**

27. I would love to see a third or fourth party. I’m not going to go into more detail because the last thing I want to do anymore is have another political debate.