Thoughts of an Outsider

Thoughts of an Outsider

I am an independent: an outsider to the two-party system. I could very easily join one of the two major parties—either the Democrats or the Republicans—but I won’t feel right with myself if I do. Today, nearly 40 percent of the electorate self-identify as independent, rejecting party labels.

I have been reading a lot about people like me—political independents—in the media and primarily via web sites like the Hankster and the CUIP. I’m learning a lot and it is a comforting thought to know that I am not alone in treading this path outside of the two-party system in the U.S.

There is a great diversity among political independents in political opinion and ideologies. The CUIP expressed it best when it cites that what independents have in common, despite its diversity, is a sense that the political system in the U.S. has gone awry. That there is something deeply wrong and askew with democracy as it is currently practiced in America.

Moreover, independents are in agreement that neither the Democrats nor the Republicans hold the answer to fixing our broken System. The key to positive change is not to be found operating within the confines of the two-party system. In fact, for independents, much of the problems of American democracy can be laid to the very fact that we have a two-party monopoly in political participation in this country.

What makes the future so uncertain and a bit exciting for me is that the diagnosis of what ails American politics thus made, the prescription of what to do about it is still wide open and up for grabs.

The CUIP advocates the formation of a social movement among political independents to act as a third force to fill the political void that is not filled by either of the major parties. Other independents are advocates and members of various third-party organizations.

Myself personally—I am a supporter of electoral reform efforts such as Instant Runoff Voting and the National Popular Vote—efforts designed to encourage wider and greater participation among the electorate in politics and which seeks to expand democratic participation beyond the two major parties.

So as the political horse-race of the national Presidential elections come to a head in the coming year and most people start considering once again for whom to cast their vote, I feel an odd sort of excitement about politics.

An odd sort excitement because although I know that the horse race is still going to be between Democrats and Republicans, I have a perception that major change in American politics will be coming in the next decade. This change is going to be driven by political independents—people like me—for whom the two party system does not adequately reflect their beliefs, concerns and democratic aspirations. Sooner or later, something has got to give. A solid third of the electorate self-identifying to reject the two-party label has the potential to change the way the game is played in politics. This population is becoming organized and is starting to realize the potential for change that it wields.

So if you care about democracy, democratic participation for the ordinary citizen, and the relevance of politics to our lives in America, the blossoming of the independent movement is worth observing. Reports from the mainstream media like this one indicate that the presence of independents are being felt by the insiders. The fact that the report primarily viewed independents according to how they relate to either of the major parties, I feel, is a big mistake and misses the true picture of what it means to be an independent. I have a feeling that a report much truer to political independents and where they stand—on their own terms and not primarily vis-à-vis the two party model of American democracy—is coming sooner or later. To read it would mean only one thing: the political independent movement has come of age in the mainstream.