Independent Voter Ideology

This has been something I've been wanting to talk about for awhile now, and there are a few readers I have that are going to think that this is solely pointing a finger at them after they read this. Let me assure you that is not the case and that while I may be using a local example, I'm talking about so-called independent voters as a whole, or at least the majority of the ones I meet.

Now, I get the whole wanting to separate one's self from the rest of the voting populace. I've been there, I've done that and I also saw how silly I was once I stopped and thought about it. Calling oneself, "independent" gives you a sense of being better than everyone, smarter than everyone, and less ideological than everyone, but in reality you really aren't, and quite frankly, it's been slowly getting on my nerves over the years at the amount of people, especially in this state (Indiana), who like to label themselves as independent, really aren't, and then somehow think they are above everyone else, or are able to "think outside of the box" more than everyone else is just because they gave themselves what they perceive to be a clever label.

There's a reason for my snark, so let me move immediately along to it. Using one particular local example, which is also one of my favorites, mainly because of the confusion it gives me, is the pro-life vs. pro-choice battle. On one particular day, one particular person told me how much they thought voting was important, and that it was their duty, and that everyone should do it, etc., all of which I agree with and am glad someone as young as her realizes this. But, when you immediately follow this with "I don't like any of the current candidates, but am willing to vote for the lesser of the two evils, and since I cannot vote for anyone that is pro-choice, I will be voting for McCain."

Here's the ultimate problem with that though, if you are going to confine yourself to the two party system, which is fine by me and something I totally agree with, then saying something like what was said above does not make you an independent voter as far as I'm concerned, no matter how much you protest otherwise. The reason being is that the majority of one of the parties in this country is always going to take a pro-choice stance, the Democrats, and so therefore you are basically saying that you will always vote Republican, which totally kills the entire notion that you are an independent voter in any shape or form.

Now, if you want to do a write in ballot and not stick to the two party system, then that is one of your options, and you can then hold your head high and pretend you think outside of the box and all that jazz and make yourself feel good since you would be an independent voter. But not doing this, or not voting at all, or finding some other way to subvert the system in a way that would allow you to still stand your ground on one particular hot button issue, is not the path of the independent voter.

Never mind the problems I have with people who are against the war, think the economy is going into the tank, and agree with me on some other issues but are still willing to cast their vote for a guy that is just going to continue all of that mess and are doing so for only one specific reason, and that's all for the love and arbitrary protection of a little bundle of cells and a law that will never be overturned since just about every attempt in history to do so thus far has failed utterly.

Addendum: Looks like their is a pretty good book on this exact subject and I was pretty good with the point I was trying to make. Check out The Myth of the Independent Voter. Thanks to my friend CJ for the link.