Political party association is stupid, cowardly and ruins politics

It's stupid because it detracts from getting to truly know a person/candidate and leads to prejudice, assumption and division.

It's cowardly in the same way gang members can at intimidate and hold power over another not because they themselves are strong but because of their collective backing. For example our current president, whom I have a neutral opinion on but even I know that without the political backing he is perhaps too old or not ideal for a leadership position (doesn't mean he can't succeed, but I can't see him making it alone).

Ruins politics because its no longer about politics it's more like some odd senior citizen sport where people root for their teams. Honesty we sit here critiquing government and politicians for there faults while ignoring the fact that the way we approach politics as citizens in general is a joke, it's a shit show.

Make no mistake, government and all its elected officials directly reflect us as a people.