Voting and political parties

Will Baude has an interesting observation here. It seems David Brooks is delving into people's association with political parties. I have to admit that I find this whole area of thought fascinating. As a Political Economy major societies voting practices and why/how people vote is something that has interested me since before college.

Brooks reports that it seems, from scientific observation that he quotes, people tend to form their beliefs from their political associations, instead of picking a political association based on their beliefs. He likens people's association with political parties to their association with religious denominations. You either inherit it from your parents, or form it on you own at an early age, and then never go back and revisit the decision. This has some very interesting implications.

Personally, I know that my political beliefs were mostly formed by the environment I grew up in. My parents were heavily involved in the local Republican party when I was a teenager so I spend innumerable hours surrounded by and listening to many staunch Republicans. Of course, I only heard their side of the story or their interpretation of the facts and that any other interpretation was misguided or wrong. Unlike most people, I fear, I do read other people's opinions to determine if they're valid (and some are), but I'm not sure I'm basing that on reality or my distorted views based on my inherent Republicanism.

I see similar behavior by people around me. I know that many older people vote with political parties because sometime in the past that political party did something admirable or had a candidate that was overly compelling. For example, FDR saved the country from the Depression or because JFK was a martyr. Or, conversely, because Nixon was a Republican thus all Republicans are evil. They then maintain these political associations for decades and vote accordingly, despite the fact that parties change over time. It's almost self-fulfilling in a way because once you have an association, you read their literature or listen to people who speak for the party, and that adjusts your thinking.

I'm not sure exactly what to draw from this observation, other than a deep sense of sadness. I think, than in an idea world, people should look at their beliefs and then at the candidates and vote accordingly. Over time, they should review their beliefs and political associations to see if they're still in line. At one point in time political parties actually had differences and candidates that fit in them, but this is no longer the case, by and large. It's now possible to find a Democrat more conservative than many Republicans and a Republican more liberal and many Democrats. Since this is now the case, it's the political parties that are now getting in the way. By forcing party members to tow the line, entire populations are misrepresented in Congress either by the party or the individual elected to office.

I think I could go on writing about how and why people vote based on their beliefs and associations for several pages, but I think I'll stop, for now. I may come back with a 2nd part to this, but I'm not sure.