We need, but will not get, four or five viable parties so we have REAL choices. We also need term limits so that 1.) incumbents aren't out campaigning rather than doing the job we pay them to do, and 2.) Corporations, PACs, and billionaires can't reliable expect the same bubbas (men or women, R, D, or I) to always be there and wield power based on how long they have been there. No one should be being celebrated for holding office for 59 years. WTF !

Because, when the close votes happen - party members generally fall in line. And, since there’s become such an obvious difference between the major US parties, is it not beyond obvious which one’s looking out for you?

What Washington needs is cohesive progression, if occasionally interrupted by moderate consideration. As is, it’s all over the place! Industry can’t trust us, international friends can’t trust us, we can’t even trust us (healthcare today - gone tomorrow)… Baby steps forward ..followed by Giant leaps backward are killing us.

Give me the party of progress - and whichever local candidate is willing & capable of delivering it

how about meaning "why," i have a pretty good answer. you see, we have one major political party at the moment, and one criminal organization (i am neither exaggerating nor slurring; i am telling the truth) posing as a political organization. so things work out one of two ways: either the criminal organization retains power, or it loses power and we can start to get the country back together again. if people ignore party lines, vote for their great-uncle's wife's daughter's ex-boyfriend because he seems like a really good guy and you just don't trust politicians anyway, then the republicans keep control, because your great-uncle's bla bla bla isn't going to win, and if he did, he would have no power anyway because you have to have the majority to get much done. if the majority plays fair, the minority can have a say, but if the majority is republican, that just doesn't HAPPEN. they write bills without any democratic input, in secret, and won't let anyone read the bills before they vote! it's insane! also, the purpose of electing a president is not to teach bigots a lesson. it's to take power away from them. so instead of electing a black woman for president to teach someone a lesson, how about electing someone who will get good things DONE (and try to fix the bad stuff that's already been and is still being done), and if that's a black woman, COOL, and if it's someone else, COOL. i'd rather vote on party lines than vote on racial or genderic lines! parties have platforms. races and genders and ages and hair colors and shoe sizes don't.

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I have a relative who claims, usually with an air of superiority, that he doesnt vote D or R, but rather for "the best person for the job." Problem is, he has no strong feelings about any of the issues unless they affect him directly and personally. He also has no real understanding of the issues.

He will never need an abortion, and is barely religious, so he doesnt care if Planned Parenthood is defunded or access to safe abortions is limited.

He is not a gun person, and has never been directly affected by gun violence, so that is another non-issue for him.

On and on it goes. He really doesn't care about what's good for our society, and no interest in history. He doesn't experience rascism or sexism, so neither are a problem for him to help solve.

He has no children and never had a major set back in life, so doesn't understand how important programs like food stamps and WIC are. He also buys into the b.s. that it's mostly fraud.

He's still young and healthy and resents being required to buy even basic health insurance.

He's not quite as actively selfish as a Republican, nor as caring about other people as a Democrat, but he would vote for either if he liked what they said in their commercials. That's as deep as his concern goes for determing the best person for the job.

Sorry, you triggered one of my pet peeves.

I disagree we should vot to simply change faces and gender. I did not vote for Obama because he was black. I voted for him because he was highly intelligent, had an important message and could get the message across in a way that was understandable and defendable, unlike his predecessor.
Unfortunately, too many republicans all support their puppet master and we must not let them remain in control. We also have to look at the Democratic legislators to make sure they have a viable message and are not just wolfs in sheep's clothing.

I was with you in the beginning but there at the end you just gave home alone the opening she needed to cut the legs off of your own statement.

So let’s just say that wouldn’t have been most likely that Bernie Sanders would be our president right now if the system that has been built for and fortified by the two parties to prevent someone from fucking up their game.

Hence AOC at this moment she’s openly challenging their system and even black women within her own party have criticized her.

Seriously if you think that race is more important than money when it comes to politics then you’re just a naive as those who believed that trump was gonna make America great again.?

<--- Lifelong Democrat, environmentalist and volunteer.

10 huge differences between Democrat and Republican party platforms:

[nj.com]