text: republicans and democrats....? please explain, if you are either, why you can't stand the other party (if you feel that way).  i am and have always been an independent. i don't care for bush but i can't say that i agree 100% with either side on every issue.  i think it would be great if we were all just independent because there would be so much less fighting, don't you think? i mean fighting amongst ourselves in the u.s.   this way the country could vote for the person they pick no matter what party he/she is as president instead of feeling they have to vote rep. or dem.  there have been fights w/people at work that almost to punching over political party (not me). this is why my parents never shared their political views. i understand now -- and i'm over 40. marie, i wish in the real world it were possible to have things the way you say.  but i think that even if people were all independent, that would not change how people feel about the two extreme worldviews of liberals/conservatives and this splits the parties more than anything.  the way that liberals in this country have gotten portrayed by conservatives (who support big business and are against most if not all social programs, except the ones for the war machine and business), is so distorted i don't even recognize them.  i've never in my 65 yrs. met a liberal like the misguided, simple-minded ones they discribe.  but i have met plenty of conservative, esp. repubs (but dems too) who are almost living stereotypes of a simple-minded, rigid anti-people (unless you're rich or aspiring ) conservatives.  i think the way you're thinking is like being in a fantasy world.  it's a nice idea but people who are independents generally aren't in the fray.  i don't believe their voice is heard so they have little to no effect.  females especially have been socialized to be peacemakers and i think more men should be and more women shouldn't be afraid to stand up and fight for things they care about.   women's issues, peace, helping people who are disabled, poor, elderly instead of helping the rich get richer which has been happening in a terrible degree are moral values that i think are worth fighting for. switzerland was neutral in wwii and that was, almost everyone agrees, worth fighting in.  being independent is like that.  i like what mark twain said.  he said he believed in the two-party system, that's why he was a democrat, implying that at least two parties existed within the party.  if you study the parties, there are big differences in them and i think the democratic party in spite of its craziness is a better representative of the best of america.