Is Party Loyalty A Legitimate Goal For Politicians?

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IS PARTY LOYALTY A LEGITIMATE GOAL FOR POLITICIANS?
Introduction
As a partisan, one has to adhere firmly to the party’s faction, idea or cause. In the U.S, it is either red or blue state or district. This concept was meaningful ages ago but not in the modern world where change is rapidly taking place. As a result, elected politicians should change with time and stop displaying their blind, prejudiced, and unreasonable allegiance to political parties. It is this blind loyalty that has enabled the two-party system to evolve into an existential threat to American principles and institutions. In some instances, the parties’ decisions are extreme to the extent that even its members do not agree with them. Consequently, this essay aims at discussing why party loyalty is not a legitimate goal for politicians and how party loyalty can incorporate politicians other goals.
Party’s goals v/s politicians’ own goals
It is natural and within every person’s right to desire to be part of a particular group. As a member of a group, one is able to easily create social identity while reducing uncertainty in life. Nevertheless, even as a member of a particular group, the question should always be ““How do I feel about this issue?” rather than “What is my group’s position on this issue?” In contrast, party loyalty requires total adherence to its goals and objectives. In the United States, party politics are presented as an immutable set of ideals that are incompatible with opposing values. The republicans will talk of free markets while the democrats will insist on regulating the economy, for example. As a result, uncompromising members often communicate the expectation that anything less than absolute loyalty is a betrayal (Amash).
Nevertheless, people should exercise their right to participate in democracy by voting according to their own values and not just ones that correspond to the party they identify with. However, due to blind loyalty, parties have consolidated huge political power while representative democracy disintegrates (Amash). In this regard, politicians who disagree with their parties are branded traitors even if the disagreement is on one issue. Since the pervasive idea is that there is no such thing as middle ground, individual politicians find it hard to express their dissenting ideas while still assuring the party’s leadership of their loyalty. Therefore, the urgency to align with one politic...