Why Most of the United States Aren't Registered as Democrats or Republicans, In One Picture

Of course, this picture was taken before Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump became political rivals. Since then, Clinton's gone on to say that Trump makes her skin crawl. So either she's lying now (gotta sell that book!) or she was putting on a good for the party (or her husband, but why?).

Anyway, about 40% of voters are independent. Less than 30% are Democrats, and less than 30% are Republicans. Full Disclosure: I'm still registered with one of the parties for the sake of getting (and laughing at) their notifications.

But both parties have their flaws. Republicans continue to shield and support racists, misogynists, homophobes, non-Christians and immigrants because those people make up too much of their base to ignore. The Democrats are in bed with Wall Street, and love that cash too much to pay attention to their base. Both parties love Big Pharma and the prison-industrial complex. Those who were paying attention noticed this during Clinton and Trump's back-and-forth last year.

Oh, and both campaigns used Russia to find dirt on each other. Of course, Clinton has the media on her side so Trump looks like more of a villain, but truth be told they're both essentially guilty of the same thing here.

And that is the crux of the matter: both parties are at the point where they are equally willing to do the same thing to win elections. And even the losing party doesn't really lose, because they'll just go to their party supporters and beg for more money for the next cycle.

Maybe it's time for some third, fourth and fifth parties to rise up...