Independent Voters

The following is from an article by Stanley Fish the Davidson-Kahn Distinguished University Professor and a professor of law at Florida International University, in Miami, and dean emeritus of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Use the above link to read the entire article "Against Independent Voters".

What do independent voters do? Well, most of all, they talk about the virtue of being an independent voter. When they are asked to explain what that means, they say, “I can’t stand the partisan atmosphere that has infected our politics” (forgetting that politics is partisan by definition); or “we like to make up our own minds and don’t want anyone telling us what to do (as if Democrats and Republicans were sheep eager to go over whatever cliff the leadership brings them to) or (and this was a favorite of those interviewed in Iowa and New Hampshire), “We vote the person rather than the party.”

This is a comment on the article from a reader:

"In my view, presidential elections are just means to an end, and not ends in themselves. Consequently, I find it puzzling why someone would register as an independent. As far as I know, being an independent voter only denies one the opportunity to participate in primaries or caucuses in certain states. It confers no tactical advantages over those registered for one of the two major political parties. My own political philosophy is, as is the case for numerous others, well represented by neither of these parties, which leads me to have little loyalty towards either. Still, I am registered as a member of one because of the extra opportunity it affords me to participate in the democratic process."

There are different ways to view this. Yes if you believe there should be only a two-party system, you would have to register so you can take part in the selection process. But if you want to change the two-party system you need to start by rejecting it. One way to do this is to fight for non-partisan elections where all voters collectively go through the political process regardless of party loyalty.

This process will need to start locally and work its way through to the state and then national governing systems. I can only hope we can put independent members of the political process in place to help express our views and cause all politicans to listen to what the voters have to say and form coalitions for doing the peoples work.

Michael H. Drucker
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