Tag Archives: independent

Substance… The Missing Ingredient

Although the next presidential election is a little more than 3 years away and the next mid-term more than a year we’re already experiencing what should turn out to be a promising bout of quips, zingers, banter, gotcha moments, winks, smirks, ill-advised statements followed by the occasional quirky mannerism and the rare but always exciting invasion of personal space strategy. Yes, it is finally here, only a mere nine months after the previous election we are at the start of the next round of campaigning and as always, I am left wanting more… certainly not more of the circus as described above, but more in terms of substance. And, without substance we are left with nothing more than mere talking points.

 

Talking points, what are they, well, they are exactly that… talking points, yet of late they have been the only requirement (in addition to completely trashing your opponent) for getting elected. If someone trying to obtain a business loan from a bank turned over a business plan simply stating that they will make money and thus be able to repay the loan they would be laughed out of the bank. Should we not react the same to candidates that give us nothing more than talking points? Until we demand more, demand an intellectual debate based on academics and facts, demand a candidate to follow up their platform with a detailed plan of action, demand more than just quips, zingers, banter, gotcha moments, winks, smirks, and ya know… talking points we really have no right to complain about the current state of affair in Washington, we elected our representatives and we’ve elected them without substance.  

 

 Even more frustrating or perhaps baffling is how each political partys’ base buys into this type of campaign behavior. I guess if you strictly vote your party line then none of this really matters, the campaign is just one long event in showmanship, a political theatre to entertain us between elections, where the circus is what draws the crowd, where quips, zingers, banter, gotcha moments, winks, smirks are the ingredients and where substance, well substance no longer has a role in todays campaign.

 

Talking points… it is the parlance of our times.

Being an Independent

With the ongoing gridlock in the federal government and the back and forth bickering between our elected officials, frustration for Independents is at an all-time high. For Democrats and Republicans the frustration lies with the opposing sides as well as within the fringes of their respective parties. As independents we are often on the outside looking in, and our frustration lies with the games played by both of the leading political parties. The current status in Washington, the inability of our political parties to govern, the representatives that have made it their political mission to thwart the ‘other side’ are just some of the very reasons that we are Independents.

As Independents we do not accept that our direct representatives make political allegiances/pledges to political parties or worse yet advocacy groups, advocacy groups that often exist outside of our State, that often threaten a primary challenge less your representative follow their agenda; the notion that our representatives do not represent us, their constituents, but answer to an advocacy group, sometimes thousands of miles away is not only un-American but was one of the very reasons we had a War of Independence. A representative’s only pledge should be the pledge they make to us, the people in their District/State and if they fail to represent us, then it is us that should replace them, not a party boss.

Being Independent means we have read the Constitution and believe that it was written to prevent factions from taking control of Government as described in the Federalist Papers 9 and 10 – this historical document though written to promote ratification has evolved to provide us with a greater understanding and appreciation of the Constitution. The concerns of factions taking control is further cautioned of in Washington’s farewell speech. We cannot ignore that the current status of our Government was forewarned by our founding fathers.

Being Independent means being free… free to make our own decision at the polls, without the guilt of crossing party lines, without the guilt of betraying our father’s Party, free to have a voice, to be able to disagree with a Democrat or Republican without the side effects of being labeled a liberal or conservative.

As Independents we have a voice, we have reason, but most of all we are political free…

The greatest gift our forefathers gave to us was our Independence… do not lose it… be an Independent!