Matt Meyer
Mr. Sunshine

Bipartisanship will never work when the ignorant cling to parties to be politically savvy, like the stereotypical redneck clinging to guns and the bible, or the stereotypical hippie clinging to a myth of peace. People tend to cling to what they are told to follow, or what other people in their area tend to follow. And political parties are to blame. They are the stupid man’s way of being involved in politics.
Maybe I’m jaded from growing up in the tiny town of Cody, Wyoming, but nearly everyone in the town was Republican. And most of them are Republican because their parents are Republican. And they are told, over and over, that Nancy Pelosi is the devil (maybe some of the Botox affected her brain, but she’s not quite the devil, yet), and that socialism is worse than using the “F word.” I’m not saying it’s a bad idea to be a hard-line conservative, if you’ve done your research, and decide that’s how you feel. But blindly following Rush Limbaugh, in all his pill-popping glory, is a bad idea.
A few people make their own decisions, and a few swing to the completely opposite side. In Cody, some of these “F*** Bush” sticker wearing liberals were just as bad as their conservative counterparts. I once asked one of these anti-establishment liberals why she hated George W. Bush so much. The conversation went like this:
“Why do you hate Bush so much?”
“He’s the [expletive] devil, and is [expletive] everything that is [expletive] wrong with America.”
“Well, what do you think of Bush’s foreign aid projects in Africa?”
“Ummm… what the [expletive] are you talking about?”
“It’s one of Bush’s greatest successes in his presidency.”
“Everything he does is bad.”
“What do you think about the War on Terror?”
“War is [expletive] bad.”
There’s nothing wrong with being an anti-war, pro-choice hippy if one does their research and decides that’s what they want to do, but that conversation is an example of someone who just hated Bush because it turned into popular culture.
Political parties are the central cause of political ignorance. It allows people to see the party affiliation of a candidate and vote for that candidate without actually knowing their stances. I’ll use Wyoming as an example again, but this also happens in many other states, and spans both parties.
Barbara Cubin served in Wyoming’s U.S. House of Representatives seat from 1994 until 2008; she is also possibly the biggest moron to ever sit in a political position of power. She’s done and said awful things, like threatening to slap a man in a wheelchair, making bigoted comments about African Americans, consistently voting against sanctions that would help protect all the beautiful wild places in Wyoming, and voting to sell some of Wyoming’s public land to private owners.
Her elections were close though, especially by Wyoming standards. Wyoming, next to Utah, is probably the most conservative state in the nation.  She’s been elected by incredibly slim margins, like in 2006 when she won by less than 1%. Her campaign was also one of the most expensive in Wyoming history. A Republican winning by less than a landslide is unheard of (except Democrat Governor Dave Freudenthal, who, on a side-note, is possibly the best Governor in the nation). The ignorance and blind support of the Republican Party by the people in Wyoming consistently led to an idiot being reseated in the House.
The blind following of parties has destroyed our political system. Individuals with the ability to change the world are stifled, and people elect parties rather than individuals unless –and sometimes despite—their apparent lack of skill or intelligence.

mmeyer@mesastate.edu