"My three-month-old can't vote, but if he could, he'd vote for..."

Many people nationwide were born Democrat or Republican. This is a dangerous phenomenon.

From toddlers dressed in pro-Kerry or pro-Bush propaganda to politically apathetic adults who won't make friends or date across party lines, this nation is full of people whose party affiliation is more a part of who they are (and who their parents told them to be) than what they believe in. Now, not everyone with the same party affiliation as his or her parents is a born party member--there are plenty of people who, after examining their own beliefs and those of the two major parties, find themselves aligned with the one they'd have picked reflexively. A born party member is one who feels that, because his parents listen to NPR and his cousin sells natural-fibers clothing, he must vote Democrat; or, conversely, because her parents are God-fearing Christians and her cousin is in the NRA, she must vote Republican.

Born Democrats and Republicans are a lot like legacy admits to colleges. Neither major party wants to alienate its born members--they are, after all, likely to be a loyal and generous bunch. Yet just as legacy admits aren't necessarily the best suited to the schools they end up at, born Democrats and Republicans aren't always the best advocates for (or, for that matter, the most constructive critics of) their parties.

The greatest problem with the born party members is their tendency to be off-putting to moderates or undecideds they encounter. While they are adamant about being on the right side of the culture wars, that friends don't let friends vote whichever, they cannot provide any ideological reasoning that led to their own realization that Republican or Democrat is the way to go. All they can provide is a sort of cultural Democratness or Republicannity, a lifestyle in line with the Red or Blue State mentality. They assume people who are like themselves in other ways share their political views.

Both parties have a lot to offer those who culturally are more aligned with the other of the two, but in order to reach out to the potentially politically-mobile, the major parties need to take a close look at who exactly is speaking for them.