Hi Anthony.

You wrote, "values that I DO—subjectively—believe to be in the larger interest of a democratic nation. Namely, those that protects its people, as enacted by Roosevelt, Johnson..."

Your values might be in agreement, but many people believe that the Federal government's role should not be to enforce those values - that the states are in a better position.

The European Union is how the US was envisioned - a federation of independent states. In Europe, some states (countries) work well, others do not. One can see contrasting approaches. I like that - one can choose where to live, based on one's values, rather than having one approach forced on everyone.

I agree that the tendency to adhere to a "party" is very toxic. Parties are anti-freedom: to be loyal to a party is fascist. I am sorry if that offends anyone, but it is true. One should vote based on the candidates - not a party. Party loyalty is what divides us.

We need urgently to disenfranchise the two major parties in the US, and break the stranglehold that they each have on us and our election process. We need rank choice voting - that is the only path to rescuing us from this increasing division.

I would also encourage people to blacklist and boycott news sources that exhibit political bias. Use rating systems such as "AllSides" and just don't read/watch sources that show bias. https://www.allsides.com/media-bias/media-bias-chart