Should changing parties, while holding an elected office, be illegal?

No. It just shows that you are capable of changing, with the winds of change.
A sign of intelligence, to me….

I think it should be illegal. Our governor did that within a year of being elected as a democrat. I voted for him thinking we were of the same mindset. He switched to Republican and said he supported everything trump said and stood for. Switch and bait.
Also, it’s dishonest to pretend you are one thing and had no intention of following through with your promises. That’s not intelligence, it’s being a lying, cheating dishonorable person.

Maybe voters should be able to call for a vote of no confidence during their term.

I tend to think political parties need to be greatly curtailed rather than having their legitimacy further reinforced.

No. If you made it illegal, then people would just vote with the other party but technically remain in the one they started with. Follow the money and you won’t vote for the wrong person.

Not illegal, but when a politician purposefully misleads by identifying with a party that is not in line with anything they stand for it’s pretty bad. @chyna’s example is really pretty horrific, I don’t blame her for being really upset about what the governor did. Other politicians, like Bloomberg while Mayor, or Lieberman while senator, people knew they were not completely lined up with the party they first were elected in.

No,but it should trigger an immediate by-election for that seat.

No. As long as I get to change my vote. Yes if not.

You vote for the person. Warts and all.

You could always cut them out and have the constituents vote instead of them. It would be tons of votes and I am not sure who would write bills.

Here is the thing. Barely anyone regrets voting for their congress person or whatever. You voted for a idiot but I voted for the best!.

Admitting you fucked up is something we just don’t do. But we love saying everyone around us did fuck up.

So this shit will keep going on and get worse.

Cancer is a bitch and I doubt I will be here in ten years. That doesn’t bother me. I want off this ride.

This will surprise people, but parties don’t really exist in American law. The Democrats and Republicans are private groups.

They have immense influence because pooling money and effort is efficient.

We don’t need to cement party loyalty any more into society than it is already. The voters elected a political creature, more interested in maintaining power than ideology or working towards a larger goal for the people. Politicians just act in the way we encourage them to, and if they feel they have a better chance of winning on the other side, they will switch, and if they get re-elected, it proves that they were right to do it.