Vote for the party, not the person

by Thomas G. McNeill, 4 October 2020

This post is part of a larger series. Full series in one document: Why vote for Thomas McNeill and the United Utah Party?

Previous: Why do individual members of Congress have high approval ratings, but Congress as a whole does not?

[Summary of previous post: Individual members of Congress are popular with the voters that elect them. The major parties control Congress as a whole, and each operates in a way to benefit their party and deny victory to the other party, not to benefit the country as a whole. Individual members of Congress are part of this dysfunctional system.]

In the past, people would proudly say, “I vote for the person, not the party.” And back then, it made sense. The parties were not very far apart on most things, and members of Congress would cross party lines to vote when they felt it was important. That seldom happens now.

Today, it makes more sense to vote for the party, not the person. If you are happy with the way that Congress works, then by all means vote for the candidate of one of the major parties. If that candidate wins, it will be more of the same. It really does not matter much if the major party candidate is a nice and reasonable person or a partisan extremist — the result will be the same because the major party leadership controls the way that Congress operates. (For an explanation of why this is the case, see the previous post.)

Perhaps at some future time the major parties will moderate their behavior. But in the short run, the only real hope for change is for the country to start electing people who do not belong to the major parties.

The United Utah Party is about pragmatic, effective government, not obstruction and division. Once in Congress, I will fight for the best possible results for people of Utah. If that means compromising on policies, but not principles, so be it.

For most of the difficult issues of the day, such as the financial health of Social Security, health care, immigration, use of excessive force by police, and so on, there are reasonable compromise policies that could be worked out and meet the approval of the majority of Americans. Those are the things that I will work for once I am in Congress.

Please vote for me so that I can put Utah’s and the nation’s interests first in Congress.

Read the entire series in one document: Why vote for Thomas McNeill and the United Utah Party?