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GalacticaActual · 4546 days ago · link · · parent · post: Romney and Bain Capital: The Secrecy is Killing Him
You're right though, everyone seems to think they're the exception. I don't think anyone is truly independent in the sense that they don't share ideals with either party, and I would certainly agree with that.
I like to think of it this way: I'm not a Yankee fan or a Red Sox fan; I'm a baseball fan. I like to watch a good game, and I appreciate the game itself more than any individual team. Right now, baseball sucks and I don't like watching it. That's what being independent means to me.
user-inactivated · 4546 days ago · link ·
You could be on to something with your baseball comparison. The polarizing "us or them" over-competitiveness American way has spread from sports to politics. Maybe the two are related. It's part of our culture, our national identity. We're raised to pick a team and compete. This was inevitable.
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thenewgreen · 4546 days ago · link ·
It's pretty ethnocentric to think that a competitive nature is somehow uniquely american. I'd invite you to go to a football (soccer) game anywhere in the world or any other popular national sport. Competitiveness is a human characteristic and the way it manifests itself in both our sports and our politics is not unique to us. The political process the world over is similarly partisan the difference is, the best places have figured out how to keep BIG money less a part of the process while we have figured out more and more ways to make it the essential component.
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user-inactivated · 4546 days ago · link ·
It is ethnocentric. I would have elaborated more but I'm mobile. Your point about the rest of the world keeping BIG money less a part of their political process than it is in America can also be applied to American sports. Capitalism is Competition. I should have said Commercialism is the American Way. It ruins everything.
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thenewgreen · 4546 days ago · link ·
"commercialism is the American way". -point taken.
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GalacticaActual · 4546 days ago · link ·
I'll buy that for a dollar.
In a flourish of irony and Shyamalanian Twistery, I say we create a political party for people who hate political parties. What will we call it?