A few minutes ago, I got a phone call from the Democratic party, asking for money.  The conversation went something like this:

Caller: As you know, the new healthcare legislation passed.  However, Sarah Palin and the Republicans, are saying extreme things about it to make everyone hate it.  They’re calling it socialism instead of debating the facts.  And they’re raising a lot of money to fight it.  If you donate to us today, we’ll triplicate your donation.

Me: I’m sorry, I really do not want to donate.

Caller: But don’t you dislike what the Republican party is doing right now and what Sarah Palin is saying?

Me: Sure.  I can’t stand Sarah Palin.

Caller: Don’t you see how important this is?

Me: I really don’t support major political parties.  They’re too extreme for me.

Caller: Don’t you know that President Obama has been described by some as a centrist?

Me: Sorry, the reason I don’t donate is because I think political parties make issues too polarized in this country, not because of the characteristics of individual politicians.  I’m sorry, I really do not support you.

Caller: OK, well maybe we’ll get you on board sometime in the future.

Me: Thanks, bye.

Since I’m a pretty passive person, I don’t like to say mean things to people on the phone, so obviously I did not do so with this conversation.  But the conversation really exemplified what I do not like about political parties.  The caller assumed that if I disliked the Republican Party’s extreme tactics, then I would surely prefer the Democratic Party, and seemed to be confused as to how I could dislike the Republican Party and not like the Democratic Party.  In fact, the whole conversation was a bit of irony.  The caller was accusing the Republicans of using improper debate tactics, but was essentially making a straw man argument by lumping all of the Republicans in with Sarah Palin and crazy people that use the word socialism instead of debating the facts.  Sure, lots of Republican politicians did that, but it was certainly not everybody.  And not all Republicans are as radically incompetent as Sarah Palin.  I told him I don’t like political parties because they’re too extreme—I dislike political parties just as much for their straw man arguments as I do for their hyperbolic accusations.

File this under reason #492 why I dislike political parties.

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