Talk:Charles Kruger (politician)

Party registration
Politicians are members of the parties in which they enroll. State parties manage the political affairs in their own states and are affiliates of the larger nationally organized party. For example, the Green Party's affiliate in Maine is known as the Maine Green Independent Party. In Minnesota, the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party is Minnesota's Democratic Party affiliate. Different parties have different politics; the Democratic Party is not a monolith. The Democratic Party in California will have different politics (to various degrees) than Democratic Party-affiliates elsewhere. As such, it is factually accurate to say that Kruger and other local politicians are members of the state-based political party first and foremost.--User:Namiba 19:12, 3 August 2020 (UTC)
 * All arguments are WP:OTHERSTUFF. The Maine Democratic Party is not an affiliate like the Minnesota DFL. Also, per WP:ONUS, The onus to achieve consensus for inclusion is on those seeking to include disputed content. That means you. I've restored the original. KidAd (talk) 19:50, 3 August 2020 (UTC)
 * Kruger is a member of and nominee for the Maine Democratic Party. In the United States, political parties are not centralized organizations like in some European countries. Each state party has a unique history and political composition. These state parties affiliate with national organizations. In some cases, their names differ dramatically (as demonstrated above) and in some cases they do not, but that does not negate the fact that Kruger is most accurately described as being a member of the Maine Democratic Party. See List of state parties of the Democratic Party (United States) for a list of said parties. here, for example is an article calling him a member of the Maine Democratic Party.--User:Namiba 12:49, 4 August 2020 (UTC)
 * This is an interesting question. My first-blush reaction (and the practice I've always followed when editing up to now) is to link to the national party, as most people do think of the parties as national organizations, except perhaps in the very few states like Minnesota where the national party name (Democratic) and state party name (DFL) are not identical. Also, the WP article on the national party will always be longer and more comprehensive, and perhaps less susceptible to vandalism as it will have more active pagewatchers. BUT ... makes a very good point in the first comment of this thread. Regardless of whether state parties are legally independent of the national party, they function somewhat independently with respect to officeholders at the state and local level. Consider:
 * 1. For statewide offices, it is the state party convention, not the national convention or any national party organ, that nominates the candidates. For both statewide and lower offices, candidates will receive advice/help/volunteers from local committees (town committees, city committees, ward committees, county committees) affiliated with the state party -- not directly with the national party. It may be that Rep. Kruger, as a private citizen, voted and campaigned and raised money for Hillary Clinton. But in the sense for which he is notable on Wikipedia, he was nominated and supported by the Maine Democratic organization -- not by the U.S. Democratic Party.
 * 2. What it means to be a "Democrat" or a "Republican" can vary significantly from state to state, as Namiba pointed out. An elected "Massachusetts Republican" is likely a centrist, as the independent/swing electorate skews left; an elected "Massachusetts Democrat" is often on the left wing of the party (I suspect Maine's politics are similar). By contrast, an elected "Alabama Democrat" is more likely to be a centrist, while an elected "Alabama Republican" is more likely than her Massachusetts counterpart to be on the right wing of that party. It's more accurate to describe elected state officials, particularly of state-minority parties, as members of their state party and adherents of their state convention platform than to connect them directly with the national party.
 * 3. The issues are different. Being a governor or state representative has very little to do with foreign policy, military use or federal deficits, for example. It has a lot more to do with local education funding and policy, transportation and mass transit policy, state workers' pensions, and local power struggles between urban and rural areas. The WP pages on national parties are mostly about federal politics and the issues debated at that level. State and local officeholders should link to the party page that details what their party espouses on state issues -- the issues that they themselves are voting on.
 * I guess this means I'm in favor of linking to the state party, though a sense of inertia makes me pause. I'm wary of setting a precedent that will be followed sitewide on such an obscure talk page as this one. Thank you to Namiba for posting a pointer at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Politics, but really this discussion should be taking place there, or at some MOS page or somewhere else. It will affect thousands of pages. ``` t b w i l l i e ` $1.25 ` 19:48, 6 August 2020 (UTC)