Independence: Nothing More Than a Message

There is nothing wrong with partisan politics. Our ideologies are what drive us to make competent decisions in order to move the country in the direction that we believe it should go. Our system, however, is not appropriate partisan politics. We have two parties that are monopolies on the left and right stifling out any competition from smaller third parties because it would threaten their well being. Make no mistake about it, both the Republican and Democratic parties are businesses who feed off of money; it is about winning first and governing second. The losers in the situation are the people who actually care about what is happening in this country.

We've become so comfortable in voting red vs blue that we don't even recognize that there are other candidates out there that may be more ideologically aligned with our views. Those candidates don't get any attention, aren't invited to the debates (thank the media for this one), and barely crack 2% of the total votes submitted because of it. Why is it? The two party system has become so pervasive that we believe a vote for anyone other than the Donkey or the Elephant is a wasted vote. Sadly, this isn't a completely false assertion. The vast majority of the electorate will vote red or blue come election day and not even know which third party candidates are on the ballot despite the fact that they may be more ideologically aligned with them.

The most infuriating result of our two party system is the huge coalitions that come with the territory. Two villains of the last two years have been conservative Democrats Ben Nelson and Blanche Lincoln who hail from usually conservative-leaning states. If we expect people to represent the people of the state, we cannot fault them for being more conservative. The real problem lies in the structure of the system that looks for anyone with a D or R after their name to vote a specific way regardless of where they were elected. Sweetheart political deals for specific states, such as the famed "Corn husker Kickback," are the direct effect of said perception. Breaking up the coalitions and allowing more specific parties will only increase the proper representation of US citizens and more meaningful legislation.

The message of it all? Independence is nothing more than a message...but a message that needs to be sent.