Ever write in shorthand? I haven’t and I don’t know very much about what it is except a bunch of symbols that are supposed to represent words, letters, and phrases. But moving from a literal sense of shorthand to a metaphorical one, we use it all the time.
When we buy products and use services, we do so a lot of the time because of which company or brand makes those products or services. Like when someone will only buy a phone if it is made by Apple. Apple is shorthand for them on the quality of phones.
It doesn’t matter if it is built better or has better technology. The Apple brand is all they need to know. And this can benefit us in our daily lives…for some things.
Looking into every aspect of phone making, like how well it’s built, or screen quality, or battery life is useful and has benefits. But overall, most phones made by large cooperation’s will work well and looking into every aspect won’t have a huge impact, except if you’re looking for something specific or want a bunch of extra features.
But when it comes to the decisions that are made which affect our entire society, this branding and shorthand can have consequences. And nothing is branded more in our society than the two major political parties.
Those party brands may seem to make our lives easier, but in the end, their goal is always to do what’s best for the party or their brand, not the country. This grows tiresome to many, and the bigger they get, the more polarized they become. And the more polarized they become the more extreme they get.
So, with that being said, let’s look at how and why both parties expand their brand and why I think using parties as a form of political shorthand needs to stop.
