I like wallowing in the mud...so I became a politician

I am not a very political person. I have never followed politics very closely, just keeping aware enough that political satire makes a modicum of sense. But something bugs me (actually, many things bug me about politics, but today I will focus on one area), especially around election time. It is the matter of only voting for one party.
A great deal of what I read about in regards to the American electoral process leads me to believe that the approximately 20% of people who are "undecided" each election are usually seen as being somewhat weak and silly in their thinking. Most people, it appears, believe that a person should have their allegiance to one particular political party or system and that is it. I find that scary, truth be told.
To remain completely loyal to one particular system of thinking is a dangerous thing in the political word. It ignores the fact that the world is constantly changing, that situations come and go. Sometimes a country needs one type of leadership, and at other times it will need another type of leadership. If you really look at all of the political parties and what they stand for (if you can actually find that information in the dirth of mud slinging), you will likely find at least some things that are good ideas, and some things that you don't agree with, even if it is the party that you support. It is mostly a matter of how their ideas are implemented and how they are handled.
Now, I do not have a problem with a general leaning. There is nothing wrong with having a preference and with sticking with it as long as you are examing that position regularly and honestly. There may be times when the state of the country is such that it needs to have a period of leadership from the party that you don't usually look to, simply because the national, or even global, situation has changed to such that the party you normally like is not up to the task of leading.
For example, during World War II, if the government that you liked had vowed to completely pull out of the war and let Europe burn for whatever reason, then would it not make sense to vote for the other guys who were vowing to do everything they could to stop evil from spreading across the continent, and likely bleeding across the ocean eventually. I realise that is an extreme and fictional example, but it illustrates my point. There was a certain type of leadership that was needed then, and to have voted otherwise simply because it wasn't 'your' party just does not make much sense to me.
And heavily related to that is the issue of how a Christian should vote. It is infinitely worse in the United States where the evangelical christian is almost a political entity unto itself. I think that if you are a Christian in the United States you are supposed to vote Republican because...I don't know - the Democrats are Satan's party? Someone made the comment to me a few weeks back when Sarah Palin was announced as McCain's VP. He said that he was glad that she had been picked because it would be good to have an evangelical Christian as VP (even though we are both Canadian and are not necessarily directly affected). That was all he was basing it on. He had no idea what she stood for, what policies she supported or anything. He had never met her or heard much about her, so he had no idea what she actually believed. But the fact that she was an 'Evangelical Christian' (I don't even know what the means when people use it in political conversations) was enough for him.
Shouldn't we, as Christians, be more diligent in trying to elect a government that will actually govern well? Being told that as a Christian I should automatically vote Republican, or Progressive Conservative in Canada, makes me somewhat angry, or in the very least indignant. I think it would be a better idea to actually look at what each party believes and to then vote in a manner that would get the best party into power. But that seems to be a foreign concept for too many people, and like I said earlier, it actually frightens me a little.
I don't like politics for many reasons, and I honestly think that the 'democratic' system we have in place is not the best way of doing government, though perhaps it is the best way of doing it that we currently have. But without changing the system, it could be much better if people would take the time to actually decide who they are going to vote for instead of voting for 'their' party or voting how they are 'supposed' to. Once that starts happening, maybe the politicians will actually become worth voting for.
On a side note, I find it interesting how judgemental people are of Bill Clinton. I know he did some pretty dumb things while he was president, but I feel like he is treated more harshly than he maybe should be. I say this largely based on Philip Yancey's book What's So Amazing About Grace. In that book, Yancey talks about meeting Clinton and about the kind of man he is. Yancey actually respects Clinton (remember, this is based on actually meeting the man and getting to know him personally) and has good things to say. He does not excuse Clinton's actions, but he does try to show grace to a man who has made a mistake. That does not have much to do with the rest of this post, but it is something that I have thought about off and on for a long time. It worries me how quickly we let our grace and forgiveness go out the window when someone important like that makes a mistake. I'm no different, I have the same struggle. I just hope I can remember that the next time a leader makes a mistake (I'm guessing it will be soon because...well, let's just say I don't have much faith in politicians in general).