As someone who isn’t very interested in politics, I’m surprised to find myself interested in political parties. As I’m getting older and everything in the news becomes more relevant to myself, I’m starting to wonder if political parties fulfill the purpose they were created for. I’m not trying to argue to get rid of them altogether, but I can’t fathom how a person can identify completely with one party.
If I had to identify my political affiliation, I would classify myself as an independent. I agree with some views from both parties; I don’t really feel strongly towards either side. Maybe this is my “millennial” way of thinking, or my ignorance when it comes to politics, but I don’t want to identify with one party.
I realize that other countries have more than two parties, and I wonder if this is any better. It creates more of a divide between people and their ways of thinking. Opinions are so complicated that I don’t think there is a way to categorize them like this. I realize voters don’t choose a candidate because they 100% support every idea and opinion of the candidate, but I think the parties make the voter believe this should be the general way of thinking.
With the two-party system in the United States, I think this causes people to ignore the views of the other party. It creates the idea that there can only be two ways of thinking; one is right and the other is wrong. From my experience living in a predominantly conservative county, people find it very hard to consider the opposite view. I don’t mean to imply that this is a characteristic of a Republican, but I think it is a characteristic of the binary way of thinking. We get so caught up in our idea of “it’s this or that, no other” that find ourselves denying that there may be more than one opinion.
The two parties have caused people to deny opposing views, solely for the fact that they don’t affiliate with that party. Rather than consider the effects of the viewpoint, they deny it because they aren’t a Republican, or they don’t want to agree with a Democrat.
For me personally, it’s hard to get behind one candidate because I can only share their views on some of the subjects, whereas I agree with some views of the other candidate. This is the case for most people, but they still have their party to rely on, so they are able to make a decision. I don’t believe there is a way to categorize these types of thinking.
As an immature millennial, ignorant to the ways of politics, my viewpoint may seem untraditional and uninformed, but I believe that there is an advantage to seeing the political world as an unacquainted eighteen-year-old. I am able to see it without all of the bias, the dirt, and the messy creation that it has become. Seeing anything without much knowledge of the subject gives an uneducated opinion, but it is always a truthful one.
