STANDING TALL: DECLARATION OF AN INDEPENDENT

~~By Kenosha Marge

Who are we? What is our own personal identity? What parts of that identity are most important to us? How far are we willing to go to protect the part of our identity that we most cherish?

I will always be an Irish American/Danish American/French Canadian/Ogallala Sioux. That’s in the blood and the bone. I don’t think of myself that way much. I just think of myself as an American.

I did however always think of myself as a Democrat. We were the good guys. We were the people that cared about other people unlike those evil, rotten Republicans that didn’t. Except that attitude didn’t work very well for me because ½ of my family, the maternal half, was Republican. While I didn’t always agree with them, they certainly weren’t evil or rotten. They were in most respects much like the other half of the family, the Irish-American Liberal/Democrat side. Except, to be perfectly honest, they were far more fiscally responsible.

I grew up to be a fiscally responsible moderately liberal Democrat. Voted a straight Democratic ticket, and I always voted, all the time. One slip over the years when I voted for a liberal Green candidate who seemed far more in tune with my beliefs than old Herb Kohl (D-WI) ever was.

Then came the election cycle of 2008. I learned that much of what I was and who I thought I was and who I thought they were was not true. May 31^st 2008 a day that will live in Democratic Party infamy for many others and me. The day we knew, finally, sadly, angrily knew, that the party we had been a part of and believed in was as corrupt as the other party. That was the day that I, personally, left the Democratic Party forever. Once my trust is lost it is gone forever.

Now I am an Independent. Felt very strange at first but has grown to be enlightening and giving me a whole new sense of freedom.

As a non-partisan Independent I don’t have to like some politician just because they have a “D” after their name. Right there is freedom from voting for some pinhead just cause he’s a Democrat. And truth be told, I voted for a lot of pinheads.

As a non-partisan Independent I am suddenly listening to what people on the right are saying. And sometimes, much to my surprise, I actually agree with them. Lots of times I don’t. Just like many times I don’t agree with those on the left. That’s the freedom of not being a partisan pinhead. Viva la Independence!

As a non-partisan Independent I have come to see that both major parties are corrupt, dysfunctional, and incompetent. Oh they both bluster and brag on all the good things they do but take a look at the shape the country is in, where the hell were they when it was headed this way? Some very smart people were telling anyone that would listen what was coming. Damn few listened.

Now the parties point their fingers at each other. Smart people know that this disaster is a bi-partisan mess created by elected officials that are too busy raising money and worrying about their next campaign to be much concerned about the people’s business. Too concerned about partisanship and the pecking order and who is in power and who isn’t. As a non-partisan Independent I can tell you who isn’t in power; the American People.

As a non-partisan Independent I have come to see that there is no party for America. Republicans care more about the Republican Party than they care about their country. Democrats care more about the Democratic Party than they care about America. Both parties care more about money and power than their constituency. Oh they talk the talk, rhetoric is cheap folks, takes money to buy whiskey. Damn few walk the walk. As a newly-minted Independent I am seeing this with my eyes wide open for the first time.

As a non-partisan Independent I look at issues not who is saying what. I look at the deed and not the doer. If something is wrong for one party then it is equally wrong when done by the other party. With partisanship attitudes that is seldom true. I have heard people twisting themselves in rhetorical knots defending an act they condemned with vigor when done by a Republican but are now defending when done by a Democrat. And vice-versa, hypocrisy at least is completely bi-partisan.

As a non-partisan Independent I have come to the sad conclusion that I pretty much loathe all politicians. They are a bunch of lying, thieving, bloviating, incompetent nincompoops that aren’t fit to run the Funhouse at a Carnival let alone a country.

As a non-partisan Independent I wish that we had good, honest, competent, leadership. As a non-partisan Independent I can plainly see that we don’t.

As a non-partisan Independent I will therefore have to pick and choose and be hyper vigilant when voting. I will vote for the person and not the party. I will vote for the best of the bad and hope they will grow into their job or at least see that their best interests lie with the people who elect them.

As a non-partisan Independent I hope enough people take off their partisan-colored glasses and vote for what’s best for all the people not just people that think the way they do. I also would hope people would stop demonizing every one that doesn’t belong to the same party or philosophy that they do. We have enough evil bastards in Washington D.C. running our country and our way of life into the ground. We don’t need to help them by turning on each other. They are the enemy. They are the evildoers. We the people put politicians in a position to do their evil deeds.

As a non-partisan Independent I really wish we’d stop doing that.