Political Independents… Are You Truly Independent?
Republican ? Democrat ?
Different… But the same.
The key is that they are the two dominant parties, with no real challenger for votes. Both sides know the political pendulum swings one way for a while, and then the other. But they know that voters will vote for them no matter what.
A few years ago, someone did an illuminating survey of independent voters. They found that, even though the voters were no longer registered as Republicans or Democrats, when most of the “independents” stepped into the voting booths, they pulled the lever as if they were still in their former party! The former Republican still voted Republican, and the former Dems voted from Democrats. Thing is, both parties don’t much care about the average voter because they know the population has been brainwashed into thinking that the two party system is the only way that our system can function. We have been captive to political paralysis because too many voters can’t find the will to step outside the R or D box.
For the last few years, I’m been on a personal crusade to get as many friends as I can to not vote for candidates with D’s or R’s next to their names. Vote for anyone other than Repubs or Dems.
But Mike, they say, the guy I choose has no chance of winning!
At the moment… Yeah.
But, right now, winning isn’t the immediate goal. The aim is to break the stranglehold that the two parties have on the electoral system.
The average citizen does not matter to our politicians anymore. We don’t have enough money to fund their campaign dinners and other extravagances.
We, the people, the ordinary average citizen, have only one form of political currency at our disposal, our vote. Both parties know we’ll vote for one of them, so they take it, and us, for granted. What would happen though, if instead of moving the political pendulum back and forth, we start deconstructing the pendulum…. taking it apart instead of being a slave to it? The pendulum is made from our votes. We take our piece of that device and put it somewhere else, somewhere that the pendulum doesn’t swing to. If enough people do that, the pendulum doesn’t have enough weight to continue swinging, and then????
Then maybe, just maybe, the politicians will start paying attention to us, the voter.