Another election is coming. The electorate is as deeply divided as it's ever been. The Republicans are moving dramatically further to the right, and the Democrats look ineffective trying to deal with people whose best interests are not that of helping people but of in complete destruction of the opposition. So once again our election comes down to those independents in the middle.
Most people who call themselves independents are not. They actually lean one way or another based on a general philosophy or outlook. Despite whatever you think from reading my posts. I am not a Democrat. I consider myself an independent progressive/liberal. Having said this, however, given the deep division in American politics, I'm effectively a Democrat since moderate to liberal Republicans don't exist anymore. In my lifetime, I've gone from voting for Republicans half the time, to about a quarter of a time, to maybe one an election cycle, to not at all. I didn't move away from the Republican party. The Republican party moved away from me.
When I have people who tell me they vote for the best person, and wind up voting a conservative slimeball with a shady business record or a personally morally queasy background, over a person who is both an exemplary military veteran AND a preacher, I know that they're really not voting for the best person but an ideology. Which is okay - I'm just frustrated that they won't admit it.
A true independent can exist. I think many Americans belong to the Git-Er-Done party. They're not ideological, they're more pragmatic, and want to see problems solved. That's part of what happened in the 2010 election. To people like me, changing direction at that moment was a proposition of sheer lunacy, like pushing the car back into the ditch instead of trying to continue to try to pull it out. But an impatient independent group did not see it that way - they just wanted to send a message that things weren't improving fast enough.
Independents can operate as good checks and balances, which I believe in. It's the counter balance in my belief system, coequal to my liberal/progressive beliefs. If I ever feel like the power of certain liberal groups was getting to be too much, I could see myself voting for a more moderate candidate to check the excess. The likelihood of me doing it the way things are going right now, though? Don't hold your breath.
On the other hand, Independents tend to be low-information voters. They don't particularly like politics and they don't like to waste time thinking about it. so they tend to make their decisions based on what they would call "gut instincts". This so-called gut instinct is influenced heavily by negative ads. Now, most independents will tell you they hate negative ads. They may actually believe that. It's not true. Ask them why they don't like a candidate - they will quote verbatim from a negative ad.
Independents are also influenced by their friends and neighbors. They may get their news completely second hand. Ask them if they watch Fox News or MSNBC, they will tell you NO! Ask them their opinion, once again they will quote something from one of those channels. How did that happen? They're not quoting the channel - they're quoting a friend who watches that channel.
I don't quite accept this, but I do think there is some wisdom in what Texas writer and activist Jim Hightower says, "The only things in the middle of the road are white lines and dead armadillos."
Bottom line is, I think having some truly independent voters is healthy for the democratic process. Having low-information voters is not. Our system only works with an informed voting populace. So, please independents, make a greater effort to really explore what direction you really want the country to take, and what individuals are best able to take our country to that goal.
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