This is the principal reason I wouldn’t ever join any political party, even if there were a party whose platform was 100% aligned with my own beliefs and desires. To be clear, I don’t think for one second that being an Independent somehow makes me immune to bias — that would be an embarrassingly arrogant (and factually incorrect) proposition to argue. But at the same time, I do believe that it’s at least slightly easier to maintain a personal commitment to truth-telling when you divest yourself from a partisan culture that disincentivizes honesty.