[Aliantha]

Dana, I mentioned earlier in this thread about being an independant candidate. I think being affiliated with a party is a good way to start out in politics. It gives you profile in the community and gets your name out there.

If you oppose the decisions of the party while you're in it on the basis of what your constituents are telling you, then they will respect you for it. You'll make headlines in the local papers (higher profile), and you'll have a platform to jump from if and when you decide to run as an independant because you feel your party no longer serves the needs of the people.

Sure you have a certain responsibility to your party, but at the end of the day, you're there to serve the needs of your constituents and if you feel the party is not meeting them, then you're on a sinking ship anyway.

You'd have to weigh up the pros and cons because ultimately you are an individual but you're part of a group and without that group, I'm guessing there's a good chance you wouldn't be where you are now. Do you owe them any debt of loyalty? Have they backed you up when you've been against the wall? Or are they simply toeing the line against the collective better judgement? Was your argument good enough to sway the majority in the party? If not, why not? Maybe your argument didn't have as much merit as you felt it did? Find out the reasons why it wasn't a good argument. Maybe there's underlying reasons.

In politics more than any other game, people will say one thing and mean another. This you know. Find out why it happened in this particular instance.