Political non-allegiance

I got into a discussion on the future of the US Democratic Party over at The Gay Expat’s site. I’ve talked about that in this blog and elsewhere, too, since I’m passionate about it.

In my last post, I mentioned campaigning for Gerald Ford, and said I left the Republican Party four years later. In changing parties, I declared independence from parties as such. In US elections, I’m a Democrat. In New Zealand I’m a Labourite. In both cases, my support is contingent on the party backing issues I care about. If they don’t or, even worse, turn their back on those issues, I’ll then turn my back on those parties.

However, I can’t see either happening any time soon. Democrats, as lacking spines as they are, still maintain a huge advantage over Republicans by being connected to rationality. The same is true for the NZ Labour Party versus the NZ National Party, but in NZ the contrasts between the two main parties isn’t nearly as great—not even close. In NZ, there are also other choices.

So, parties have to work to keep my support. As long as they don’t abandon key principles, there’s no problem. If they do, I’ll simply move on.