Diversity within political parties

I hate the term RINO. Republicans use this term for members of their party who don't mindlessly accept how the party dictates their votes. This is why I have been somewhat defensive of people such as Mitt Romney and Liz Cheney.

Ideally, politicians represent the people that vote for them. They should not be representing their party. Because there are differences in the people they represent, any respectable party will have disagreements.

The Democrats are even worse. They actively vilify anyone in their party who doesn't vote exclusively with the party. We have seen this kind of treatment with Gabbard, Sinema, Manchin, Kennedy, and Fetterman.

We periodically see politicians change parties. I honestly don't think it's common for a politician to switch to join a party that wins them over. I think it's far more common to leave a political party that they no longer want to be a part of.

In the case of the Democrats, there is a reason this doesn't come up more often. There is absolutely no diversity in their party. They frequently point to shallow topics such as racial diversity as a distraction from the fact that they all share a brain. Republicans are similar but not as bad. If you can see people for more than how they look, the Republican party is definitely more diverse than the Democrats right now.

The only way Democrats are willing to accept anyone right now is if they allow party leaders to dictate their views on every issue. Here in Washington, we have a really good example of that. We have Senator Patty Murray. In her decades as a career politician, she has yet to contribute a thought of her own. Although she has managed to get her name on legislation, this has always been on policies the Democrats already supported. She has made a career by acting as a pawn of corrupt party leaders. This is precisely what the Democrats want, someone who completely lacks a mind of her own. Anyone without a conscience can do what Patty Murray is doing.

Both political parties need to diversify their membership. We need representatives who are willing to contribute their own thoughts. We need people who can make a difference. We need people who are willing to put people over their parties. We need people who are willing to acknowledge that party leaders don't always know what's best for diverse citizens. In case you can't tell, I'm not defining diversity by something as shallow as race. We need mental diversity.