THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS. A THOUSAND GODDAMN TIMES THIS.

We are a country of 330 million people. Finland is a country of five million. Finland has 11 political parties represented at the national level. We have two. Sure, there are three "independents" but one is a socialist who is running for president as a Democrat, one is a libertarian who is a pro-impeachment Republican, and one is pretty much a Democrat.

I consider myself fairly middle of the line. When I lived in states that required voters to register with a party, I was a Libertarian. My current state, thankfully, does not require this. In 2008 (Ron Paul) and 2012 (Ron Paul) I voted in the Republican primaries, and since Joe Walsh has seen the writing on the wall that his candidacy doesn't stand a chance, this year I'll vote in the Democratic one (currently waffling between Klobuchar and Buttigieg). I don't think I voted in the 2016 primary: it was clear Clinton was getting the Democratic nomination and I don't like Sanders, and none of the Republicans were worth a damn to me.

When someone asks where my views lie, it's with a party that no longer exists. I'm an Eisenhower-era Republican (basically, pre-Nixon and the Southern Strategy). I believe a New England Republican and a Midwestern Rural Democrat have far more in common with each other than they have with the unfortunately becoming-more-empowered fringes of their "own" parties. Mitt Romney's defection on the impeachment vote lends credence to this idea as he was Governor of Massachusetts while I lived there. I'm about to read a book called Recarving Rushmore that I'm really looking forward to-- it ranks the presidents from best to worst on a scale involving peace, prosperity, and liberty and how their policies contributed to (or took away from) all three.

I'm not opposed to voting for a Democrat or a Republican (at least I wasn't on the latter before their complicity against holding a trial that actually has crazy ideas like evidence and witnesses), but I'm not going to vote for whoever gets trotted out because they aren't Trump. You have an unpopular president and the Democrats are doing nothing to try to carry the middle that could/should lead them to victory. Trot Sanders out there and you've guaranteed I'm going third party.

If anyone was wondering about those rankings from the book, I don't have the full ones, but here's a few bits from the summary I read...

PEACE
Best: Tyler, Harding, Hoover
Worst: Madison, Polk, McKinley, Wilson, Truman, GWB, JFK, LBJ

PROSPERITY
Best: Tyler, Van Buren, Hayes
Worst: FDR, LBJ, McKinley, Wilson, Truman

LIBERTY
Best: Washington, Tyler, Cleveland
Worst: Wilson, Jefferson (!), Truman, Adams, Polk, McKinley, Reagan, GWB

OVERALL
Best: Tyler, Cleveland, Van Buren, Hayes

The HTGTH haiku-writing motherfucker is alive!!!!!  Good to see you still around.

I just can't seem to get into Zodiac at all, whereas the other three have been among my most-listened to.

No blind hatred here. All I said is it's not an excuse and yes, it makes you an apologist if you think being the same as everyone else somehow makes it all okay. When Trump marketed himself as the guy who would "drain the swamp" or whatever horseshit he insisted on and then proceeds to act exactly like Swamp Thing, it makes his hypocrisy that much more rightfully magnified.

I also never said they aren't part of the aforementioned lunatic fringe of the party.