support a party?

Well, unfortunately when you vote for anyone above county level, you are voting for a party. When voting for a legislator or Congress, you are voting for a seat. The person who is running will either be sitting on the left or right side of the aisle. Yes, who that person is will matter, but you are also voting for which party will get to choose the leaders of the committees, and the agenda.

Hello there.. I too do not believe in party and their agendas... I always check the history and deeds of the candidate... Here it is worse, so I don't even take interest in voting.... LOL

I vote along party lines, straight ticket. I didn't always, but the parties are so aligned up as to what and how they believe. I'm more (minarchist, not anarchist)libertarian than anything else, so whichever party gets he11bent on super sizing government, it's reach, scope, $ize and power, I vote for the other party. In the 80's when it seemed the right would like to legislate behavior and moral choices, I voted democrat, but for some while now, what with all this global warming, global trade, and government takeover of assorted things, some banks, auto industries, health care, and what not they are dreaming of (redistribution of wealth) I've been voting republican, not that republicans are for small government! Just not into the expansion of government over every aspect of life as much as the dems and progressives are right now.

Why would somebody support a party? Even though the approach does not represent the interests of the people well, the truth is that the political system is run on a two-party format. One thinks that by ignoring party label, and looking only at the candidates that they can really choose the best person for the job. That is fine for the candidate and the campaign. But after the election, that candidate, no matter what their name, will be forced to work within the two party system. Even for the many people who are faithful to a party, they are forced to accept much about their party they do not like. These voters would really like to clean up their party so they can feel better about their choice, but that is not the way it works. I might also point out the fact that your candidate is not ignoring the two party system. Suppose you vote for a third party candidate. Unless that candidate works hard to cozy up with elements of both parties, they have no chance of winning. How will they do that? By compromising even more than the party candidates do. So while I agree with your sentiment that someone who goes to the polls and lets all their votes be defined by the D and R is not properly using their voting privilege, the D and R is not something that can be ignored. There are huge differences between the D and R camps. Differences not only in goals and philosophies, but also in the methods used to accomplish those goals. I can tell myself that I like a little bit from each side, but what does that mean after the election. I think for a lot of people there is one of the two parties that they tend to align with much more than the other. If you think both parties are about the same and pretty good, then you need to do a little study.