There use to be two political parties to choose from, the Democrats or the Republicans. Everyone knew where the two stood on issues and those who followed each party fell into two distinct categories. Democrats were the working class, the poor and the minorites. Republicans were the business owners, the rich, and the retirees. Now, the Democrats and Republicans have flip-flopped on issues so much, their differences have been blurred. With the Bush vs Gore elections and Gore’s subsequent loss due to the Independant Nader, other parties besides the big two have become relevant in the political scene.

In other states, choosing a political affiliation is required when registering to vote. If you decline to state your party affiliation, then you aren’t able to vote in national elections during the primaries or for the president. At first, I thought California voters could mark the box as “Decline to State” and be able to vote in both the Democratic and Republican primaries. Turns out that isn’t true. Declining to state allows voters to vote in the Democratic primary but not the Republican one. This is probably due to the amount of Democrats in the state of California. If the Republicans allow anyone to vote, then Democrats can just choose to Decline to State and shift the Republican elections their way.

In California, there are six registered political parties to choose from–American Independant, Democratic, Green, Libertarian, Peace and Freedom, and Republican.

Doing a minimal amount of research which involves reading the headlines on each respective parties website, I was able to gather each parties values and beliefs:

• American Independant – Kick out illegal immigrants; lower taxes
• Democratic – Strong government; support middle class; strengthen social programs
• Green – Environment first; even playing field for political parties in terms of money and airtime
• Libertarian – Weaken government control; empower people to take control of their lives
• Peace and Freedom – Government should provide free healthcare, jobs, equal rights, etc
• Republican – Efficient and frugal government; security is paramount; reduce taxes

You can see now why many people decline to state their political affiliation. But fear not! There are other political parties coming to our rescue. The following are parties who are trying to get themselves registered with the state by June 2008:

• The American Eagle Party
• Equal Justice Party
• God, Truth and Love Party (GTL)
• New World Party
• No More Black Holocaust and Reparations for Origians Now Party
• Reform Party
• United Concious American-Africans for Peace, Success, and Fairenss Party
• United Concious Builders of All Americans Equal Dreams Party

Personally, I am waiting for the 2010 parties to form. One is called Anarchy and Poverty Party which is somewhat dark and omnious. But the other was called the We Like Science and Women Party. Awesome name. Too bad they changed their name since the last time I checked. They are now called the the NeuroScience Party. What a pity.