Dump the Duopoly: Are you independent or are you co-dependent?

While the number of self-described independents continues to rise, the number of duopolist dead-enders remains stagnant or continues to fall. A new Rasmussen poll finds:

Currently, 35.5% of American adults view themselves as Democrats. That’s down from 36.0 a month ago and from 37.8% in October . . . The number of Republicans inched up by a point in December to 34.0%. That’s the highest total for Republicans since December 2007, just before the 2008 presidential campaign season began. However, the number of Republicans in the country is essentially no different today than it was in November 2008 when Barack Obama was elected president . . . the number of voters not affiliated with either major party has grown by six. The number of adults not affiliated with either party is currently at 30.6%, up from 24.7% in November 2008. [Emphasis added.]

At the Chuckwagon Journal, Chuck Cummins advocates the election of independent candidates to office and urges Americans to pressure their representatives to declare their independence from the Democratic and Republican Parties:

More politicians in Washington should declare themselves Independents. Independents are not obligated to vote the party line. Independents are not beholden to the majority leader or the minority leader to get their bills out of committee. On the contrary, Independents can wheel and deal . . . Independents can vote for or against a bill on its merits, not on how their party leaders tell them to vote. Each vote generates a renewed scramble by each party to court their independent vote, because those independent votes often make the difference in whether a bill gets the majority needed for passage or not.

It is much that way in national and state elections now. About one-third of the population votes Republican regardless and about one-third can be counted on to vote Democratic regardless. It is the independent voters who determine the outcome of most elections. Independent voters look at the candidate and the issues and decide their vote based on what they see. They can vote for a Republican judge and a Democratic councilman because they are free to judge each on their qualifications or accomplishments -- not on the party they belong to. Voting for the party, of course, is easier, but that is exactly why we are in the mess we are in.

We need people in congress making independent judgments before casting their vote. We need politicians actually negotiating two or more possible means to an end rather than just being against a bill because the opposition party proposed it. We need politicians voting for or against something for reasons other than the need to stay in line, to stick with the party.

Write your congressperson and encourage him or her to become an independent.