I'm also basically a socialist, by the way, I always have been, and I DO vote for whichever candidates I have the most confidence in, with the hope that it might make some small improvement in things. I probably have a good deal more in common with you than you seem to think I do.

Where I differ most radically from most people is: They take a political party-based system for granted, having grown up in it, and they think that it is a necessary and integral part of a representative democracy.

I don't. I think the custom of having ANY political parties whatsoever is a political aberration, a huge mistake in human history, and that the political parties themselves are destroying genuinely representative democracy not only in the USA, but all across the world.

That's why I have little or no confidence in any of them.

But I still vote for the individual candidates I feel are the best at any given time...regardless of their party affiliation.