Why the labels?

Why is it that politicians have to label themselves?  I'm not a democrat or republican. I'm just me, an American citizen.  With a nation of free speech and thought I find it hard to believe that our government for the most has only two ways of thinking, democratic or republican.  No person has the exact same views on every issue.  I believe this constant labeling has corrupted our way of thinking and is killing our society.  By labeling ourselves, our thought process can become one sided believing only what those labeled alike tell us.  One example is voting, some may say they would never vote republican or vice versa.  They shut out the views of another based on a label yet on certain issues they may have the exact same beliefs.  When voting, I vote for a person, not a political party.  Politicians may also be reluctant to voice how they truly believe because of backlash from their political party.  Voting should be done based on whats best for the country not because of a label. According to James Madison, factions are bad yet our government is split into the two largest factions. Let's do away with these labels and focus on solving issues.

World Police

                Is America the police of the world?  I can’t help but think this is how our government thinks.  With other nations stepping in to handle the situation in Lybia why couldn’t the US just stay out of it.  I’m not against helping Lybia but I just don’t understand why the US had to join the fight.  Before the military strikes, Obama sounded reluctant to agree to helping because we’re already trying to police other middle eastern countries but he just couldn’t say no.  We somehow went from wanting to stay out of Lybia to being the lead behind the air strikes.  Our need to please foreign countries seems to have top priority over our own country’s needs.  Everyday I read that we are days away from giving up command to NATO but this sounds too similar to our government always telling us they plan to start pulling troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan.  The US needs to stay out of other country’s problems until we can get our own country back on track.  Defense is one of the biggest federal budgets today but I don’t see much of a defensive stance on anything. We’re always on the offense.  When North Korea attacked South Koreans recently, the US was quick to send warships to the area.  The US felt the need to show off our power to control the situation in Korea.  Are we the only ally to other nations across the world?  Using our military power takes money that our country just doesn’t have right now.  We need to bring all troops home and cut military spending. Although I doubt that would happen anytime soon.