NationStates Jolt Archive

Because trying to be both for something and against it at the same time would give you a headache.

I eat OP's for breakfast.

Why can't you belong to both parties?

Because American democracy basically amounts to joining a side and slandering the other one. You can't be on both sides.

Because they are the polar opposites of each other - yikes, everyone has been brainwashed into the idiotic idea that the Democrates and Republicans are the same - well, from what I gather, they are not the same, they are completely different.

Why can't you belong to both parties?

Eh?

Isn't that the same as asking why you can't play for both teams in a game?

Because they are the polar opposites of each other - yikes, everyone has been brainwashed into the idiotic idea that the Democrates and Republicans are the same - well, from what I gather, they are not the same, they are completely different.
I totally get were you are coming from, but politics is kinda hard to understand. Um, you could visualize it this way: the Democrats are vermilion, while the Republicans are coral red.

Now do you get the difference?

I think it has to do with voting in the primaries.

Thats about the only time it sucks not being in one party or the other.

"Because they are the polar opposites of each other - yikes, everyone has been brainwashed into the idiotic idea that the Democrates and Republicans are the same - well, from what I gather, they are not the same, they are completely different."---Alexandrian Ptolemais

let us make an analogy using animals.....

Democrats: Nurse shark

Republicans: Koi

Now, they may seem completely different, but when the other animals around are a rabbit, a dove, and a komodo dragon.....you see that they are comparatively very similar

Because there is no box to check off that is for both parties.

Why can't you belong to both parties?

you can - they'll take anybody. except if you are actually in office, because neither party wants to provide support and funding and cover for the other side.

The Forever Dusk and Posi, the Republicans and Democrats are completely different - let us look at a few policies

Tax - Democrats: in favour of more taxes; Republicans: in favour of less taxes
Gay Marriage - Democrats: in favour; Republicans: opposed
Abortion - Democrats: in favour; Republicans: opposed
Gun Control - Democrats: in favour; Republicans: opposed
War in Iraq - Democrats: opposed; Republicans: in favour

I could continue listing them forever, however, the Democrats are lefties and the Republicans are righties - that makes them opposites.

Why can't you belong to both parties?


This is what would happen if you tried to join both parties*: http://b3ta.cr3ation.co.uk/data/ScannersExplodingHead.gif



Seriously, belonging to a party allows a person to vote in a primary, to determine which candidate represents the party in an election. If you were to belong to both, you would influence an election a little bit more than someone that only belongs to one party.











*thanks to LG for providing a link to that image

In the middle of the Republican and Democratic parties, there's little difference between one and the other. Each shouts:

"We support the American people!"

On the extreme edges, both parties shout:

"We know what's good for you!"

Seriously, belonging to a party allows a person to vote in a primary, to determine which candidate represents the party in an election. If you were to belong to both, you would influence an election a little bit more than someone that only belongs to one party.
But it wouldn't be some sort of special priviledge. Anyone could do it.

I like to belong to as many parties as I can for exactly that reason, but the US has created the central register that prevents it, and I don't see why.

I want to vote in both primaries.

I want to vote in both primaries.
There was a time when you could choose which party you wanted to vote for at the primary. You could look over a list of all the major candidates from every party and choose one. This was called an open primary. It got shut down because people started voting, not for the best candidate from their party, but for the worst from the other. The idea was to give the other side such an unelectable candidate that all the votes would go to your side. Obviously, this couldn't be allowed so now we have closed primaries

I want to vote in both primaries.

aren't you...ya know...canadian?

aren't you...ya know...canadian?
That's just what he wants you to think.

In the middle of the Republican and Democratic parties, there's little difference between one and the other. Each shouts:

"We support the American people!"

On the extreme edges, both parties shout:

"We know what's good for you!"

Meanwhile, the nihilist-anarchists want to blow everything up, the hippies try to get us all to get along, the Marxists try to differentiate themselves from the populist-communists, the centrists can't make up their mind, and the historians try to make everyone seem evil.

There was a time when you could choose which party you wanted to vote for at the primary. You could look over a list of all the major candidates from every party and choose one. This was called an open primary. It got shut down because people started voting, not for the best candidate from their party, but for the worst from the other. The idea was to give the other side such an unelectable candidate that all the votes would go to your side. Obviously, this couldn't be allowed so now we have closed primaries
So get more of your supporters to the primaries. It's an obvious solution.

I don't see why the government is regulating the internal workings of political parties.

The Forever Dusk and Posi, the Republicans and Democrats are completely different - let us look at a few policies

Tax - Democrats: in favour of more taxes; Republicans: in favour of less taxes
Gay Marriage - Democrats: in favour; Republicans: opposed
Abortion - Democrats: in favour; Republicans: opposed
Gun Control - Democrats: in favour; Republicans: opposed
War in Iraq - Democrats: opposed; Republicans: in favour

I could continue listing them forever, however, the Democrats are lefties and the Republicans are righties - that makes them opposites.

Meh, they're still all politicians out to get my vote so they can not do what they were elected to do. That would be, *gasp*, make the system work.

...politicians ...make the system work.

POLITICIANS DID SOMETHING RIGHT?!

*record scratches while I spit out my soda and drop a knife on my foot*

*Reads rest*

Oh... false alarm.

aren't you...ya know...canadian?
I am Canadian. In Canada there's no central regulation of the parties, so I can join as many of them as I want (I have to pay a fee to do so). Each party sets its own voter eligibility rules (I remember in 1987 when one party set its voting age to 16). Then at nomination meetings I can vote for candidates within all the parties of which I'm a member.

I like to have a say in he candidate selection of all the parties which have a legitimate shot at winning that seat. And yes, I could vote for weaker candidates. But why not? That's just strategic voting.

A few years ago two federal political parties were merging, and they each had a vote of their members to determine whether they should. I happened to be a member of both parties, so I got to vote on both sides.

POLITICIANS DID SOMETHING RIGHT?!

*record scratches while I spit out my soda and drop a knife on my foot*

*Reads rest*

Oh... false alarm.

I'm sorry to disappoint, but you know how it is...

I'm sorry to disappoint, but you know how it is...

*pulls that knife out* Yeah... Well, maybe we'll fix the country after digitization.

No, wait. The politicians will mess that up too.

Hmm... maybe we'll be better off once private space travel comes round.

Why can't you belong to both parties?

For the same reason that you can't be a Protestant and a Catholic.

They have different values that they hypocritically betray to opportunistically whore themselves for votes.

You can't simultaneously pretend to be bloodthirsty while being a pacifist and be a pacifist while pretending to be bloodthirsty. You can only be one and pretend to be the other. If you're genuinely bloodthirsty and pretend to be bloodthirsty, then you're not really pretending, and there's no place in America for that sort of politicking.

Because one party is OMG EBIL HITLER STALIN OMG GHENGIS KHAN NAZI GOEBBLES OMG OMG OMG EBIL EBIL EBIL OMG OMG!!11!!!!!!1!11!1elevendyonez111!1 and the other is OMG YAY GOOD SAINTS MOTHER TERESA GHANDI OMG YAY GODLY!!!!!111!11!

For the same reason that you can't be a Protestant and a Catholic.

They have different values that they hypocritically betray to opportunistically whore themselves for votes.

You can't simultaneously pretend to be bloodthirsty while being a pacifist and be a pacifist while pretending to be bloodthirsty. You can only be one and pretend to be the other. If you're genuinely bloodthirsty and pretend to be bloodthirsty, then you're not really pretending, and there's no place in America for that sort of politicking.In Canada, you can be incredibly corrupt, while being an American ass kisser, while being a socialist, while trying to split up the federation, while you smoke your pot and hug your trees as you can be a member of all those parties at the same time. Why can't Americans figure out the wonder of the sextuple life?

The Forever Dusk and Posi, the Republicans and Democrats are completely different - let us look at a few policies

Tax - Democrats: in favour of more taxes; Republicans: in favour of less taxes
Gay Marriage - Democrats: in favour; Republicans: opposed
Abortion - Democrats: in favour; Republicans: opposed
Gun Control - Democrats: in favour; Republicans: opposed
War in Iraq - Democrats: opposed; Republicans: in favour

I could continue listing them forever, however, the Democrats are lefties and the Republicans are righties - that makes them opposites.

Boy-oh-boy.

You are none to bright.

There are Democrats that are against Gay Marriage, and Republicans for it. It's not a party issue.

Same for Abortion.

And Gun Control.

And Iraq.

About the only one you are even remotely close to being right is Taxes. The others are generalizations that aren't even good generalizations-you can find plenty of either side for any side of the issue.

Really, the parties themselves are almost carbon-copies of one another(Today, at least). Especially when you compare them to, say, political parties in Europe and other nations. Jesus, those are some massively different parties.

Our two parties are not very different at all, in comparison.

Why can't you belong to both parties?

o.O

let us make an analogy using animals.....

Democrats: Nurse shark

Republicans: Koi

Now, they may seem completely different, but when the other animals around are a rabbit, a dove, and a komodo dragon.....you see that they are comparatively very similar
I like this analogy! :)

Boy-oh-boy.

You are none to bright.

There are Democrats that are against Gay Marriage, and Republicans for it. It's not a party issue.

Same for Abortion.

And Gun Control.

And Iraq.

About the only one you are even remotely close to being right is Taxes. The others are generalizations that aren't even good generalizations-you can find plenty of either side for any side of the issue.

Really, the parties themselves are almost carbon-copies of one another(Today, at least). Especially when you compare them to, say, political parties in Europe and other nations. Jesus, those are some massively different parties.

Our two parties are not very different at all, in comparison.

Isn't the unchanging fact amoung Democrats and Republicans views of economics? That was always the main difference (or has been for decades) between the two, was it not?

Isn't the unchanging fact amoung Democrats and Republicans views of economics? That was always the main difference (or has been for decades) between the two, was it not?

Pretty much it. Everything else is pretty much just added crap that people love to generalize.

And hell, even their economic philosophies aren't to terribly different, relatively speaking. Compare them to the radically different political parties of other nations, and the two we have are not very different, even in that regard.

Pretty much it. Everything else is pretty much just added crap that people love to generalize.

And hell, even their economic philosophies aren't to terribly different, relatively speaking. Compare them to the radically different political parties of other nations, and the two we have are not very different, even in that regard.
I don't know a whole lot about the differences between foreign parties. In Europe it seems like you have a strong Socialist party, and an even stronger Socialist party (my kind of government) along with some strange branch parties that I don't really understand.

For the same reason that you can't be a Protestant and a Catholic.
You can't hold the opinions of both groups at once, but that doesn't stop you from attending the services and putting money in the collection plate at both places.

No one needs to know how I vote in order for me to declare for one party or the other, so why can't I declare for both?

The Forever Dusk and Posi, the Republicans and Democrats are completely different - let us look at a few policies

Tax - Democrats: in favour of more taxes; Republicans: in favour of less taxes
Both parties tax. The difference lie in what they want to spend money on.

Gay Marriage - Democrats: in favour; Republicans: opposed
Abortion - Democrats: in favour; Republicans: opposed
No one is "in favor of abortion". That is a deliberate distortion on your part. pro-choice is just that -- in favor of letting women choose to control their own bodies. The anti-choice lobby isn't interested in saving unborn children, they're interested in controlling women.
Gun Control - Democrats: in favour; Republicans: opposed
War in Iraq - Democrats: opposed; Republicans: in favour

I could continue listing them forever, however, the Democrats are lefties and the Republicans are righties - that makes them opposites.

I wasn't aware that all Republicans were in favor of the war.