Your Party.

How do you look at your political party?

Seems like some people look at it like a political affiliation and others use the party system and voting to get their way and others use it just to have some say.

If you are focused on political affiliation, you would join the party you most agree with and then work to elect the person you most agree with in the primary....even though doing so could risk anyone in your party being elected and could be left with the other party.

If you are focused on getting you way, you might register in the other party and try and vote the most generally unpalatable candidate so that once the main election comes, your real party will look better and might have a better chance of winning.

If you are focused on having a say, a democrat in a place like Park County might register republican because either A. all the republican candidates are rather liberal big govt spenders or B. since all elected positions are held by republicans, registering R is the only way to have any input on local stuff, which as we all know, is actually more important then national stuff may days of the week.

How and why do you pick parties?

I personally realize this is a game and thus I play it to win.

I won't pick a party I vote for the best person for the job no matter what party they belong to.

gmule wrote: I won't pick a party I vote for the best person for the job no matter what party they belong to.

If you are registered for one party, you cannot vote for anyone in any primary in all places (though in some you can)? Are you saying that the candidate you want is always in the party you register in or are you only referring to main post primary elections.

posteryoyo wrote: How do you look at your political party?

My party affiliation is my choice between a rock and a hard place.

It's the lesser of two evils.

I am registered as a Republican even though I consider myself a libertarian, because I realize the Republicans have a better chance to win than they do. And voting in the Republican Party primaries and caucuses are the easiest way to influence the choice of candidates.
In primaries I usually try to balance my libertarian beliefs with electability to make my choice.
In the general? Since my one vote out of millions has very little power, I will often vote for the Libertarian choice if available. If the "L's" get enough votes, they can get federal funds.

The biggest negative with being registered is all the phone calls and junk mailings. Do any of you that are unregistered get less hassles?

Both parties suck IMO.

I am registered as a Democrat even though I consider myself a libertarian.

A few people here (like Nmysys) think I shouldn't participate in the process because I am a journalist and because I don't agree with them. Since I don't cover politics or have a say in any political coverage, I don't see why I should not be allowed to express my opinion. It's the right of every American citizen. Nmysys and his ilk can't shut me up.

Conservation Voice wrote: I am registered as a Democrat even though I consider myself a libertarian.

A few people here (like Nmysys) think I shouldn't participate in the process because I am a journalist and because I don't agree with them. Since I don't cover politics or have a say in any political coverage, I don't see why I should not be allowed to express my opinion. It's the right of every American citizen. Nmysys and his ilk can't shut me up.

You have every right to express your opinion. However, I do think you need to reexamine what what a real journalist is. I agree with this definition...how about you?
Journalism:

The style of writing characteristic of material in newspapers and magazines, consisting of direct presentation of facts or occurrences with little attempt at analysis or interpretation

We need a new name for partisan journalists.....the real ones are nearly extinct.

As one of only a small group of journalists who have gone to jail to protect our First Amendment rights, I not only agree with that, I support it. Why would I need to reexamine it, if I agree with it?

Funny how people who think that never complain that Fox is biased, only the "main stream media" sites.

But this is a community forum, not a news site. The views expressed by me are my own, as a U.S. citizen.

Conservation Voice wrote: As one of only a small group of journalists who have gone to jail to protect our First Amendment rights, I not only agree with that, I support it. Why would I need to reexamine it, if I agree with it?

Funny how people who think that never complain that Fox is biased, only the "main stream media" sites.

But this is a community forum, not a news site. The views expressed by me are my own, as a U.S. citizen.

My point is that you shouldn't call yourself a journalist, it doesn't fit the true definition.