Well, no. 1776 was indeed about liberty and individual rights, etc., but against an oppressive government. The subjects of that government had no choice or voice.
We do. Political parties are not governments. They do not govern us. They are mere options. We can come and go from them as we wish. We empower them or make them irrelevant by our participation, which is really the issue here.
The American Revolution empowered us to chose our form of government. The details are up to us, and we’ve let it become a cluttered mess.
If the political parties have become too powerful, too manipulative (and indeed they have), it’s within the power of the electorate to walk away from them and begin new alliances.
We’re probably seeing this happen. It’s too late for new organizations to arise this election year, so we’re probably in for chaos and upheaval this cycle and, perhaps, new options in the future.
That is, unless everyone forgets once November is past.
Your question probably wasn’t serious, but you got a serious answer anyway. ;-)
Thank you for your thoughtful, reasoned response. I appreciated reading it.
You are right that we have the option to throw out the political parties if their oppression becomes too much. It is oppression if they control it and, by various tactics, shut down the candidates they don’t want. The ability of the masses to organize and come up against a well-funded cabal is an obstacle that may be insurmountable without violence. This is becoming an increasingly frightening reality.