Sorry, but crono has it dead wrong.
Platforms are nothing more than a description of what the party stands for. Nothing wrong with that, especially since, unlike his claim that they're "more important than the people," these platforms are chosen BY the people. Every step a party takes is done because of votes from the members, ordinary people who bother to participate.

That's why the party's a great thing. Without it, ordinary people can't do squat, but with the party even without spending a bunch of money I have influence and can make a difference.

If you think there are only 2 candidates, you wake up and get involved a whole lot later than you should. Right now the parties have SEVERAL candidates, and people who bother to get involved are making their decisions now who to support.

People aren't "boned," or out of control, in the least. People who don't bother to TRY to participate, who aren't well enough informed on what's really going on to make a remotely intelligent decision, they can sit and whine about getting "boned" but nobody's preventing them from participating, from making a difference, but themselves.

I'm looking forward to seeing VGL this year, and even though I also like the traditional classical music it sounds like some folks here are bagging on, I think it'll be pretty cool.

Now...quit griping about how horrible your government is, and go DO something about it. Show up at your party's next meeting, go to a caucus (and if you're going "I'm too young" believe me, they LOVE to have young people show up) work on a campaign, work at party headquarters, we all start small and work our way up, and you'll learn the truth...the most candidates for office are just regular people like everyone else who want to do what's best for their community, their state, their nation. Some have very bad ideas about HOW to do that, but they're still decent people.

That's one more thing...people talking about politics and government ALWAYS talk about presidential elections and federal government. The decisions that will affect your life are a WHOLE lot more likely to come from your local city council or school board. The stuff that happens in Sacramento and Oklahoma City and Pierre and Albany is as important as the stuff in Washington, and you have a lot more chance of talking to your state rep as you do your congressman.

Some folks just don't get class. The fact that the Patriots won doesn't make it optional, doesn't change what it is. No, this is not a "sore loser," no they did not "back it up." Behavior like the Pats exhibited is wrong, win or lose. This obnoxious theory of people "backing it up" basically says that if you're a good enough player (or lucky enough to be on a good team, since nobody involved in this discussion is a better football player than LT) it's OK to behave like a jackass.
It's not.
Good for Tomlinson, who's already established himself as a great player and a man of dignity and respect for the game, for standing up to these bully thug behaviors and saying "No, that's not right, that shouldn't be done." He's right.
And only a true moron could think that his having made these comments after the game meant he didn't care about playing football when the game was on. He cares enough to be the best player in the league this year. Here's hoping more players follow Tomlinson's example, stand up to this out of control behavior, and start getting some class back into the league.