On Party Voting

I don't know why I was thinking about this, but I figure it is a good distraction from all my other thoughts.  Maybe it was because I was reading up on parliamentary democracies, in which people constantly vote party line.

I'm sick of people claiming that those who vote party line are either stupid or misinformed.  Especially when it comes to voting for those in the legislature.  Because it just shows me that you don't completely understand what it means to vote for legislators.  It is that collective vs. individual dilemma that plagues the U.S. Congress; people often love their individual representative but hate Congress as a whole.

However, the idea that a split ticket is inherently better than a party-line ticket is, in my opinion, an erroneous judgment.  When you vote for legislators, you should be thinking of the party, not the individual.  The party is what controls the legislative body.  The party that wins the majority is who controls the agenda and who is going to essentially control policy.  Voting party-line means that you are voting for that specific party platform; I voted a straight Democrat ticket because I favour the Democrat's agenda over the Republican one.  Why would I give a vote to a Republican, when I prefer the policy platform of the Democrats?

Also, voting party line does not necessarily mean you are uninformed.  There have been arguments saying that "true neutral" voters are actually the worst, because they are impatient, and do not allow the right amount of time for a specific party to get things done.  Having a party label is a shortcut - they exist for a reason, and allow voters to choose between platforms.


I don't know.  I've just heard this argument - along with the 'we need a third party!!!!1" declaration - a lot recently.  It irks me a little.


Don't talk politics with a political scientist.