marjorie says...
There’s an article on the front page of the Journal called “Independents are Leaning Toward Left” that describes how “independents” are tilting left these days because of their disaffection with George Bush, et al. Of course, this article is talking about the big mass of folks that flutters back and forth between the two parties.
I don’t really get the approach that independents in the middle often take toward politics. For instance, when people tell me they’re going to vote for someone because they like his or her personality I’m always left a little puzzled. I mean, aren’t politics about positions instead of personality? The fact is that I have many conservative Republican relatives who I like an awful lot on a personal basis. Doesn’t mean I’d vote for them though. In fact, I might even work on their opponent’s campaign (Ok, considering I really like hanging with my family maybe that’s an exaggeration…or let’s just call it “hyperbole”…but you get the point).
To me, the difference in the party platforms for the most part tells me what I need to know: how a candidates values are likely to be translated into legislation and who they bring with them to the office. Here are summaries of the 2004 national platforms of the Democrats and the Republicans. These summaries aren't all that great...you really ought to read the actual platforms in their entirety. They're full of political B.S. but you can still see the difference.
Sure, there are differences among Democrats and there are some I most certainly prefer over others. But the fact is that I would still vote for someone like Marty Chavez over a Republican (with the very, very occasional possible exception). Which brings me to the primaries and why I’m registered in the first place given that I’m not the type to get involved with a political party.
There’s another type of independent that resides over here on the left side of the Democrats rather than in the middle. They’re the Green types mainly, and they do vote Republican sometimes. Maybe they’re actually right (seriously) or maybe they have a more nuanced perspective than I do about the value of sticking with the Democrats or maybe they’re just silly. While I respect the argument that one needs to operate outside the machine, I can’t help but lament that these folks put themselves outside the primary elections. The primaries are where we often make real choices about whether the larger public is going to have an option to elect a progressive or a conservative Democrat. And the “independents” who really are on the left are needed in that arena.
|