Vote Along Party Lines or Die! 
Many people become aghast at the mere mention of voting along party lines. "How could you?" "Why don't you think for yourself!" blah, blah, blah. I encourage these people to first take a deep breath and second to think deeply about how American government works. For clarity, ask yourself this one question, "Does your view on most issues tend to (more often than not) a) follow the Democratic line b) follow the Republican line c) be evenly mixed between the Democratic and Republican line, or d) lie completely outside the Democratic or Republican lines?"
If your answer is either a) or b), then your best strategy for the long-term promotion of your positions is to always vote along party lines. This is why:
For President, Governor or Mayor: Okay, so even if you agree with the argument about party-line voting in the legislative branch, you still might be skeptical of such tactics in the executive branch. Fair enough. Think of it this way. When you vote for the president, governor or even the mayor, you might rationalize that these candidates, although not with your usual party, seem quite reasonable, charismatic and nice. Her views are not extreme and besides "your" candidate is kind of a dud for this election cycle. So you vote for her. She wins and all is well.... at first. Quickly you start to discover that she isn't quite the moderate you had at first thought. Indeed, her appointed cabinet members certainly do not follow her middle-of-the-road persona and a couple of them are outright extremists! You notice that the cabinet members are the ones setting policy and you are outraged by some of their proposals.
In addition, she has been using her position to endorse candidates running for other offices that, frankly, make you sick. How could she do that? Then come the Judicial appointments, loading the benches with partisan, ideologue, activist hacks! Sound familiar??
Finally, a governor is typically a state's most powerful fundraiser for his or her party, touting a statewide network of financial and political connections. The rule of thumb is that a governor gives his party's presidential candidate an instant 2-3% boost in the statewide polls.
The bottom line is that you must sacrifice the tree for the forest if you genuinely want to promote your overall ideology. It is a painful fact of life that the strategically correct, and perhaps personally distasteful thing to do is occasionally vote for a perceived "dud" to save the world. You can disagree with this till your hair falls out. Unfortunately, it is the practical reality that we live in.
Today, I'll be holding my nose as I enter the voting booth here in NYC, I ask that you do the same.
KEYWORDS: Elections, Voting, Democrats, Strategy
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| < Abraham, Hunter, and John | Oopsies! So much for "classified" > |
