-Simple Plan, When I’m Gone
I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately. And as everyone knows, this is often not a good thing. But I think that this time it’s ok.
I realized something during this thinking period. Our lives are consumed by fear and order. Out of fear we allign ourselves with other people who are similar in taste, ensuring that we are not alone, which we also fear, whether we realize it or not. Everything inside of us strives to be a part of a group, even if you pride yourself in being a non-conformist. Because then you’re conforming to a non conformist group.
Groups groups groups. We are all a part of thousands of groups. Republican, Democrat, nerd, jock, outgoing, loner, smart, dumb, right, wrong. What is with us?? Why are we so concerned with being one thing or the other? Why can’t I be moderate, both a nerd and a jock, both smart and dumb, and both outgoing and introverted? No, I always have to pick a side.
That’s one of the things that bugs me the most about the election. People make decisions based on whether the candidate is liberal enough or conservative enough. I know we have parties like Libertarian and Independent, but I also know that if I choose to vote for one of those candidates, I’m basically throwing away my vote, because there aren’t enough people brave enough to straddle the fence to ever get a third party candidate elected.
Here’s what I think we should do… get rid of political parties altogether. Not only will this give everyone a level starting ground (people won’t be biased to a republican or democrat), but it will also force people into actually researching candidates platforms, instead of writing off someone “Oh, they’re a democrat. They must be a crazy hemp smoking hippi who leads peace rallies against any kind of violence.” They would actually have to THINK about their candidates.
Of course, this would lead to an issue… how do you narrow down candidates for the final race? You can’t just have everyone running on the ballot!
Well. You know how baseball they have the national league and the american league? Do that! Separate the candidates into groups ACCORDING TO LOCATION, or some other nondenominational grouping, then have primaries like normal. The best two out of both “leagues” would be the final candidates for the final vote.
I probably haven’t thought this through enough, and I’m sure you’ll all have plenty to say back. This is just what I came up with when my brother told me I needed to update. So tell me what you think!
