&gt; Equating political party = belief is a big problem<p>Why?  I agree that it&#x27;s wrong to assume that because person A supports party B, they agree with the party&#x27;s position on Issue C. However, Surely the party you support is the one that best reflects your beliefs.  If it isn&#x27;t, then why are you supporting that party?<p>&gt; You&#x27;re forced to pick a side.<p>You&#x27;re forced to pick a side, secretly, in a booth once every n years, for whatever reason you want (beliefs, best looking candidate, best sandwich eating technique, fair roll of die), for a few seconds (though you may live with the consequence of that choice for longer).  Even then, only if you live in a jurisdiction with compulsory voting, and even then, only if ballot spoiling is illegal.<p>You are not forced to pick a side and wear badges and proclaim it in public between elections and campaign in favour of it or against another side and tell everyone that their candidate is the bees knees etc.