The politics of the United States is a divisive subject that holds society hostage, since it's a vital part of the imperial core and has a record of interfering with foreign countries through regime change or organizations which, very conveniently, support the interest of imperialists.¹⁾

It tends to be a black hole of misery as citizens will feel angry, exhausted, frustrated, or worried,²⁾ especially when officials rarely reflect their best interests.³⁾ This is made worse by the boomer-led gerontocracy,⁴⁾⁵⁾ who aren't helping their own,⁶⁾⁷⁾ and political polarization.

Politics is normally complex and diverse, but the United States has been stuck with this two-party system whose parties run a ratchet-like corporate duopoly. Their so-called 'opposition', even with control of both chambers, will conveniently have internal gridlock to ensure that the corporations always have the final say. Some describe this issue as a managed democracy or inverted totalitarianism.

The Democratic Party is a center-right neoliberal party with an identity crisis that does not instill confidence, with officials flip-flopping toward centrism and beholden to corporate interests. For those optimistic, their main issue appears to be the party composition (i.e. a lack of progressives), but they can't do much to combat this as corporate lobbyists fund and rally behind the centrist 'do nothing' candidates.

The Republican Party, or the Grand Old Party (GOP), is a far-right party who mainly attracts conservatives, libertarians, neofascists, paleoconservatives, etc. Unlike their other half, they are very open about their relationship with corporations since their voter base doesn't really care about the ugly details from bumfuck nowhere. If you actually brought these issues to their face, well, it's usually far too late by then.

While several minor parties exist, the odds are usually stacked against them as they're underfunded, plus the inherent flaws of FPTP voting (e.g. spoiler effect, vote splitting) creates a need for alternatives like RCV if they want any relevance. The road map for a third party president technically exists, but we'd have to cycle back to talks about federal matching funds (5%) and national polls (15%).⁸⁾

Furthermore, there's a significant desire for additional political parties,⁹⁾¹⁰⁾ despite what all the 'vote shaming' partisans say before blaming everything but their candidate's unpopularity or electoral votes. Anyways, these parties routinely appear on the presidential ballot and pull in a small chunk of voters for a reason, so it's only fair to say that, as long as the will for these additional political parties exist: time will only tell.

“Erm, you used the 'wrong' colors, you should've used red and blue instead! ☝🤓”

When it comes to Statesian politics, the 'Democratic' and 'Republican' labels are virtually useless and do not reflect their usual political definitions. Instead, the congressional caucuses serve as a slightly coherent visual of how the United States Congress is composed. However, some officials affiliate with multiple caucuses and may 'cross party lines' when it comes to certain issues.

Hopefully, this clears up some confusion on why the parties are hornet-colored internationally, instead of that tacky red–blue dichotomy, and allow for deeper analysis and criticisms of the congressional makeup. Some positions of note are the DNC chair and its role in the 2016 primaries, as an NDC-affiliated official sent a controversial leaked memo that severely undermined the 2016 campaign for Sanders.

There are several factors to consider when questioning the United States's aggressive foreign policy, starting with lobbying and iron triangles. This will bring you to the military–industrial complex, encouraging war profiteering, or questionable interest groups like AIPAC. As it stands, both major parties are willing to throw the nation into unnecessary wars, regardless of how the nation feels.¹¹⁾

For a crude generalization: the Republican Party is anti-China, less anti-Russia,¹²⁾ and pro-Israel,¹³⁾¹⁴⁾ while the Democratic Party is anti-Russia, less anti-China,¹⁵⁾ and is split on Israel¹⁶⁾¹⁷⁾ despite the sympathy for Palestine.¹⁸⁾ This last bit does signal some 'progressive' gains, but again, they lack the numbers and funding to actually stand up against significant foreign interference through the Zionist lobby.^19)20)21)22)

An optimist may hope that progressive-led entryism into the Democratic Party will empower the left, like a long march through the institutions, but this is a difficult resolve to maintain since incremental change²³⁾ takes generations,²⁴⁾ then you'd have to block out bourgeois democracy's flaws, foreign policies, and hope no collapse, purge, or gridlock occurs. I don't know, get organized?

Meanwhile, a pessimist may either: dismiss reformism through electoralism in a bourgeois democracy as fruitless endeavors, grow impatient with lesser evilism and flawed rhetoric, or just feel apathetic or resigned with how things are. This can lead to the belief about how “it's not that serious”,²⁵⁾ or doomerism, but this, too, can be a deceptive trap if you look at who benefits from constant demoralization.

On the other hand, a conservative may be more interested in short-sighted solutions that 'fixes' their issue,²⁶⁾ but their idea of an 'issue' ranges from a misguided idea of 'the economy'²⁷⁾ to outright fearmongering from commercials or media outlets.²⁸⁾ You know what really matters? The fluctuating cost of lettuce and eggs? Your stock portfolio?²⁹⁾ One might say job security, but the oligarchs says otherwise.³⁰⁾

• The United States Congress has two legislative chambers that usually change every two years.
  • The Senate (upper chamber) holds 100 members, two per state, serving six-year terms.
  • The House of Representatives (lower chamber) holds 425 members, serving two-year terms.
• Before we dive into modern politics, let's pause to discuss what the conservatives actually do:
  • The Heritage Foundation is a think tank that publishes Mandate for Leadership, the agenda meant to guide conservative presidents, which had recently went viral under Project 2025.
  • The American Conservative Union is an organization which 'rates' conservatives, but they are mostly known for the Conservative Political Action Conference's annual straw poll.
  • Of course, there is something to be said about conservatives having 30+ think tanks. It makes you wonder where the 'opposition' has been, and whether any 'equivalent think tanks' even exist.
• Most presidential candidates tactically select a vice president to draw in voters, balancing their ticket, but don't let brand recognition or nostalgia blind you into thinking former vice presidents make a 'good' president or share the ideas of whoever they served under. This almost never works out.
  • I mean, Biden? The moderate counter to Obama's alleged 'progressivism' in 2008?³¹⁾ That's what they went with in 2020? What was even the plan?³²⁾ To find the most unpopular president?³³⁾
• If you managed to read all of this: Congratulations! However, please do not ask about this word vomit because I'd rather forget that I even wrote it. This article isn't meant to be advice, just a collection of things for political newcomers from the perspective of an old fuck who been through the cycles before, perhaps as a way to leave an impact and ward off the cynicism or doomerism.
• At one point, I thought about doing a Shii-style article about the presidential primaries and elections, under the condition that both parties must actually field candidates, since there's no tension if the incumbent is presumptive and I can't turn a blind eye to the strategic voting or party raiding that may occur. However, this has been delayed so far³⁴⁾ that it doesn't seem so fun in my 30s.

• Dealing with Lesser Candidates - Some personal thoughts on electoralism.
• List of party-affiliated socialist newspapers in the United States
• 'State-affiliated media' label