Imagine a scenario in which we have a five-person Mini-Congress which votes on various issues. The issue at hand is one of great importance — we must decide on our national fruit. The vote is to be decided by simple majority; it takes three votes to win the selection. Unfortunately, it looks like you and I are currently in the minority. The Stooge Party, consisting of Senators Larry, Curly, and Moe, plan to stay within party lines and make the Sillyfruit our new national symbol. You and I, as respected members of the Ape Party and fans of the Banana, can do little but watch this– err… silliness unfold.

So, what exactly is the problem with political parties? Suppose that neither Larry nor Curly actually wanted to vote for the Sillyfruit, but did it merely to remain in good favor with Moe (the Majority Leader). Suppose that Larry was in favor of the Cashew (he always was a little nutty), while Curly wished to nominate the Snozberry. Since they would obviously have a hard time rallying support for either of those fruits, both of them would have considered voting for the Banana as a second choice. However, doing so would have signaled weaknesses in the party line… and possibly cost them the next election. Thus, the Sillyfruit, an option disliked by four of the five Senators, wins the vote.

It doesn’t take a political pundit to see how the elimination of parties could have ensured a better choice for everyone involved (except maybe Moe). Instead, “silliness” prevailed — and the same thing happens in the real world, probably more often than we’d like to believe. Rather than letting the Congressmen think for themselves, the political world forces them to choose between two sets of ideas, deciding which set most closely matches their beliefs, and basing their entire career around a set of ideas of which they may only agree with a few. Of course, the general public is no less guilty; anyone who dares to challenge the two-party system has only a small chance of even appearing on the mainstream radar, much less getting elected.

Form camps around issues, not stereotypes.

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Disclaimer: This is a survey of all profiles visible to me on Facebook, and is obviously not scientific. Take these results with a grain of salt; not only is this only representative of a Midwest-centric population, but college students are known to be less than truthful in their profiles. Additionally, Facebook has limitations (such as 500 results per search), and only profiles which specify both Religious Views and Political Views are included. Several religions which don’t show enough followers to offer any correlation have been omitted.

I’ll analyze these results later; I’m just posting them right now. What’s interesting to me is that of all the religions listed, Christianity is the only one in which Conservatives outnumber Liberals… I’m not sure whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing.