My Gran's response 2 the question of Why Party...

There was a time when a "Party" really expressed the ideals of a distinct portion of the nation and people voted straight tickets in order to put that group in power in order to get legislation passed which helped them. Eugene Debs had great programs for the Socialist Party, probably too far ahead of his time, but US citizens thought his ideas were too "European"(many of those programs have become fact today). The Libertarian Party has some good ideas but many of their programs would not work in today's world, so their candidate gets some air time but not much support. It's really a waste of a vote to mark one's ballot for any but the two major parties. Voting a straight ticket is ridiculous and a no-brainer; there are good and not-so-good candidates within both parties and doing one's homework to select the best person is the hardest job of the voter, but must be done in order to have checks and balances within the system. No need for term limits if the public does their job and gets rid of incompetent politicians.

Questions of Party...

I have been pondering a thought since this monumentous election has begun. Why party? We all know of the Republican & Democrat parties. How about the Independent, Libertarian, or Socialist parties? I know you are probably thinking, "seriously, the Socialist party?" Its not about the party particularly, but why it is a joke that a competent candidate should rise to the level of a presidential candidate from one of them. Did you know there is a candiate from each of those parties running for president?
What happened to their chance? They aren't linked to either of the most powerful parties and they are relatively unknown. When you were voting for your student body president in high school or the president of your major in college, did you associate them with a particular party?
So why, when the most powerful leader in the free world is elected by our country does he or she have to be an elephant or an ass?