The politics of the United States is a divisive subject which 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 with citizens often feeling concerned, frustrated, or pessimistic²⁾³⁾ as officials rarely follow their best interests,⁴⁾⁵⁾ then you have the ongoing polarization crisis. There is even a gerontocracy,⁶⁾⁷⁾ but they sure aren't helping their own.⁸⁾⁹⁾

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 seems to be party composition (i.e. a lack of progressives) because lobbyists rally and back these centrist 'do nothing' candidates, thus perpetuating the stereotype.

The Republican Party, or the Grand Old Party (GOP), is a far-right party who mainly attracts conservatives, libertarians, paleoconservatives, neofascists, etc. Unlike their other half, the corporations are just in plain sight as the ugly details rarely matter to bumfuck nowhere, so they use 'patriotic slogans' to swindle people, then it turns out they do fuck-all 'for the people' (again) as they prioritize some other bullshit.

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 federal matching funds (5%) and national polls (15%).¹⁰⁾

Furthermore, there is a significant desire to add more political parties,¹¹⁾¹²⁾ despite what those 'vote shaming' partisans say before blaming everything *but* their candidate's unpopularity or electoral votes. However, 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! ☝🤓”

Most observers should quickly realize that the 'Democratic' and 'Republican' labels are useless as they hardly reflect their usual definitions, so we have to rely on congressional caucuses for a more nuanced vision on how the United States Congress is composed. Of course, this isn't a 'perfect' solution, as some officials affiliate with multiple caucuses and some 'cross party lines' in that regard.

In recent years, the Democratic Party has had a 'power struggle' between the progressives and the centrists, spanning back to the 2016 DNC email leak where the then-DNC chair Schultz, a member of the New Democrat Coalition, had a clear bias against the Sanders campaign. By the way, political gridlock implies that one end of the Overton window is being highlighted, so it won't always be a bad thing.¹³⁾

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 weird interest groups like AIPAC, J Street, etc. As it stands, both major parties are willing to throw the nation into frivolous wars, regardless of how the nation feels.¹⁴⁾

For a crude generalization: the Republican Party is anti-China, less anti-Russia,¹⁵⁾ and pro-Israel,¹⁶⁾¹⁷⁾ while the Democratic Party is anti-Russia, less anti-China,¹⁸⁾ and split on Israel.^19)20)21) This last bit does signal 'progressive' gains, especially with heightened awareness of things like Track AIPAC and increased attacks on left-wing populists, but this is a “time will tell” situation and foresight can only take you so far.²²⁾

An optimist might hope progressive-led entryism would 'empower' the left, like a long march through the institutions, but this is a difficult resolve to keep as incrementalism is slow and arduous,²³⁾ plus you would have to ignore the system's flaws, foreign policies, and hope no collapse, purge, or gridlock would occur. I don't know, get organized? Set your pride, ego, and idealism aside?²⁴⁾

Meanwhile, a pessimist may either: dismiss reformism through electoralism in a 'bourgeois democracy' as fruitless endeavors,²⁵⁾ turn impatient with lesser evilism and its flawed rhetoric, or grow apathetic or resigned with how things are. This can lead to doomerist or defeatist attitudes, questioning its severity²⁶⁾ or how one's actions 'matter', but do consider who benefits from this constant demoralization.

On the other hand, a conservative might be more interested in short-sighted solutions that 'fixes' their issue,²⁷⁾ but their idea of an 'issue' ranges from a misguided idea of the economy²⁸⁾ to outright fearmongering from commercials or media outlets.²⁹⁾ You know what really matters? The fluctuating cost of lettuce and eggs? Your stock portfolio?³⁰⁾ One might say job security, but the oligarchs say otherwise.³¹⁾

• 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.
    • It is divided into three classes, based on the election year, and a state cannot have two in the same class. There's no easy way to tell which is what, so you will have to look it up.
  • 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.
• Be wary of name recognition and nostalgia. They are a blight, but it can be a factor nonetheless.
  • Never trust 'way too early' opinion polling.³²⁾ For example, these speculative polls barely knew who Obama was until two years out, and didn't think he'd actually win until the primaries began.
  • Vice presidents are selected to 'balance' a presidential ticket, not copy whoever they served under, and they rarely win for a reason. For example, Biden was the moderate counter to Obama, but it seems that people somehow forgot³³⁾ and, well, we're still seeing the consequences of that.³⁴⁾
• The term 'woke' initially began as a critique of the American Dream, joking that you'd have to be asleep to still believe in it, but conservatives have recently turned it into a pejorative. With that original context in mind, surveys have shown that belief in the concept has been waning.^35)36)37)
  • This is why it's funny whenever grifters and politicians try to import 'woke' to other countries, like, “How did the 'American Dream' end up in Europe, Latin America, and Oceania?”
• 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 far³⁸⁾ that it doesn't seem so fun in my 30s.
  • In the event that I somehow decide to go through with this, I will be asking the question: “Has this candidate been divorced before?” …for no particular reason, of course.³⁹⁾

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