Okay, I'm out

[Admin]

Republicurious seems better to me. GOPcurious has an ugly ring.

I like yours better.

Yup, Bernie and Elizabeth Warren are hard to watch at the moment.  You either are what you are or you're not what you are.  Wait, what?

This vid and similar make me think it is time to rethink Get Out the Vote as well.  Embrace Apathy is my working alternate.  I wouldn't suggest barring anyone from voting, just encouraging continued non-action. 

[TEX_SUP]

[SlatchJim]

I really like the vid Tex.  Suspected as much, but the visual shows it in a much more dramatic fashion than any verbal description of how much we're divided.

[stoneaxe]

You do have a point there.  The primary system seems to weed out the candidates who might have more appeal in a general election.  Having all primaries open might help that.

I'm unaffiliated, so can't vote in primaries, so am at the mercy of voters in the parties to come up with someone I can stand.  But Independents are becoming a huge percentage of all voters now, so that means more and more people are going to be left out of the primary voting, and the ones leaving the parties are the more moderate voters.  So that means the people left in the parties who can vote in the primaries are going to be at the extremes, meaning this could all spiral downhill.  More extreme candidates, leading more people to drop out of the parties, meaning even more extreme candidates next time, meaning more people leave the parties...

Or perhaps ditch the primaries altogether and go to multistage elections.  First round is wide open, candidates who get more than 20% move on to next round, candidate who receives more than 50% wins.

I've had similar thoughts for years. The parties are the cause of the divide and corruption. Get rid of them.

[Tom]

I have always believed that those in power always have an advantage to staying in power, kind of a political inertia. A body in power tends to stay in power, a body at rest, tends to stay at rest. The Dems and the Reps have staying in power down to a science. An acquaintance of mine, a pot smoking, unemployed, surfer, has twice run for governor of California, once as a Democrat and once as a Republican. He can get on the ballot very cheaply and easily if he runs for one of those parties, much fewer fees and much fewer signatures. If he gets support and looks electable, the parties will throw their weight behind him. Yes, they will require some concessions, but he can still keep his ideas.

In today's system, to run as an independent is an expensive uphill battle in local and state wide elections, to run in a national election is close to impossible. I believe both Trump and Sanders really wanted to run as independents, but by joining their parties they got a head start, got on all the states primary ballots, and got funding, support, and guidance once they showed they were viable.