A little too heavy on the games, time for something different...
Warning long political/historical based rant! Proceed at your own risk ;)
The election that was just a few days ago really saddened me. I'm not a Romney fan nor am I an Obama fan. Although I was more of a Romney fan than an Obama fan because I like to pick based on intelligence. Romney came off as the more intelligent of the two. I am not saying Obama isn't a very smart person by the way, because he's extremely intelligent. Romney had some great ideas and Obama has all the charisma with less of the ideas. That is the extent to which I will comment on that.
What saddens me is the way the voting happened and the way we act as a country at times because of this.
Let's take this electoral map for example.
Unity
Reagan managed to pull off a landslide victory. He won by a hugeeee margin. Personally I like the maps that show disproportionate victories better than the close victories. Things get done under a President who manages to score a landslide victory. A close race means a divided nation. No one can make up their minds. This is really unpreventable as there is no way to make it so when there is an election there is an automatic clear choice for the nation but I feel like something is influencing the polls so that landslides will become less and less common as time goes on.
That something is the party system. Now before you say well that can't be changed or you're crazy let me just pull up a quote.
George Washington, September 19, 1796
“The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism. The disorders and miseries, which result, gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual; and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of Public Liberty.”
We should not have let the Government embrace a party system all those years ago... What saddens me is that when an average person registers to vote they choose Democratic or Republican based on the parties current standings. So let's Democrats become overwhelmingly Liberal in their views in the next 30 years, but 30 years ago a 50 year old person registered Democrat based on the ideas when he or she was 18. The person works hard and tries to enjoy life. He or she pays attention to the news but really just likes to support their registered party because that's what they are. I think people feel awkward voting out of their party, I know I would... What this is preventing is voting for the right person for the job! I'd be dumbfounded if every single voter out there evaluated each person, identified their strategies out of all the rhetoric, and made an informed decision. It seems like that would be the responsible thing to do and I think at one point it was.
There's 2 main parties, that means by chance there should be a 50/50 divide. We are seeing it get closer to 50/50 in the past 3 elections. Each side has people who strictly vote within their parties. If we would have followed Washington's message, people would not be able to vote strictly within their parties. There would not be guaranteed states (I live in New York so I know what it is like to have a guaranteed state :\ ). People would have had no choice except to either evaluate the candidates or vote randomly.
Honestly I think it would have made elections much more fair and interesting had we not adopted parties.
Thanks for reading if you read it :)
