What is your political platform?

Few people identify themselves with each of the planks of the Republican and Democratic parties. It seems that no one - including the politicians affiliated with the parties - feels compelled to adhere to all of their parties tenets. Which brings me to the poll question.... If you started your own political party, which of the following attributes would define it?

None of them. Single-issue politics cannot build any kind of broad coalition. No single proposal or opposition to any one thing would be the foundation for a mythical party of my own.

Agreed...it's impossible to make single definitive statements based on single direction sentences. That's part of the problem with today's politicians. Everyone is trying to be so black and white. I have to play to this base or that idea or this donor. It's imperative that we find someone with the ability to bridge gaps. Who can think on his/her feet and is able to eloquently define his/her stances.

I don't mean to imply charisma is the most important aspect of a good statesman(woman). I mean that the pandering needs to stop. We need someone really passionate about making this country a better place and has a dynamic platform to prove it.

I'll address the flat tax plank since it has the highest percentage AND is one of my biggest pet peeves:

1. Governments love committees and studies. Let's have one that includes representation from city, county, state, and federal governent. Decide what level does what (roads, sewer, law enforcement, food safety, etc,) Every American paycheck will be zapped at the same rate (20% ?) to be spread among the four levels of goverment according to what services they provide. For example, whether you live in OKC or LA, school crossing guards are a CITY function, to be addressed within their 6 % allotment.

2. Have the American public re-embrace self-sufficiency! While the committee is meeting, determine what services will be provided by the government (ok, oversight of hositals is good) and what should NOT be a government responsibility (let the public's ability to operate an ON/OFF switch determine what is shown on TV)

i like the flat tax idea. its working well for russia and great for the old bloc countries. i just dont understand why the supposed bastion of capitalism wont budge on this.

At the risk of falling prey to a charismatic leader (and history shows that this is a danger, sometimes), I think we need someone who will LEAD this country rather than one who will simply impose their opinion (frequently influenced by special interests). The pandering and partisan politics are destroying our cohesiveness as a nation. There are a ton of rank and file members of each party whose core political beliefs are reasonable and rational even if they disagree on how to get things done. Unfortunately, the leaders and the ones who make the news mainly come across as hate filled, finger pointing loons. The end result is that the democrats think they know what republicans stand for (and what "kind" of people they are!) and vice versa. For the most part, I doubt it is an accurate portrayal.

I agree with Solitude, there's no way to build a party, or support a particular party, on the foundation of one issue. There are so many important things to consider.

Something needs to be done to drastically reform the tax system to make it simpler. Another idea is a national sales tax of around 23%, or so.