I have never united myself with any U.S. political party, Republican, Democrat, or any other. I have justified this on the ground that by joining a faction, I am obliged to accept all of its tenets, though I am usually in agreement with only a portion of them.
However, I just read this passage in the Athenian Constitution regarding the laws of Solon:
"Further since [Solon] saw the state often engaged in internal disputes, while many of the citizens from sheer indifference accepted whatever might turn up, he made a law with express reference to such persons, enacting that any one who, in a time of civil factions, did not take up arms with either party, should lose his rights as a citizen and cease to have any part in the state."
In point of fact, I often accept "whatever turns up" from sheer indifference, having much to say on any issue, but in the end casting no meaningful vote because I am not allied with either contestant. Perhaps, in the spirit of public-mindedness, I must choose~
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