I'm Not Voting For You Anymore.....

Mr. Politician, you cannot count on my vote anymore.  I’ve spent years voting a straight party ticket almost unquestioning the GOP ideal of America’s future and let the ballot I punch show my loyalty.  It will not be so easy to get my vote anymore.  If you guys cannot think for yourselves, maybe it should be me who does the thinking.  I trust myself more than I trust any, ANY, of you guys.

I will be an Independent from now on.  I will choose who best represents me and America’s needs and I will vote for that man or woman no matter what Party they represent.

What brought this on?  I’ll tell you.  It’s the damn childlike behavior of the House of Representatives this past month or so.  Who knows if the government will shut down or stay shut down by the time this essay is published?  I certainly hope it does not.  But the silly inclusion of debate around the ‘defunding’ of Obamacare tied to financing the Government of the United States is embarrassing.  I don’t like Obamacare, and I hope that reasonable men and women in due time get elected and pass laws that make it better or take it away.  But folks, the Democrats won this fight more than three years ago, and to act like petulant children by virtue of some parliamentary loophole smacks of taking your ball and going home because the other team scored first.

If the GOP wants to repeal Obamacare, go get your buddies elected and do it the right way.  This backdoor shenanigans will certainly come back to haunt every future critical piece of divisive legislation passed by either party if it survives the unfunding farce.  Why did three million registered Republicans stay home in 2012 instead of voting for their party’s candidates in local and national races?  I voted.  I voted Republican but three million others who presumably think like me did not.  So if the GOP wants to take control of the White House and the Senate they had better start getting their candidates elected.  You can start by getting your followers to the polls.

And I’ll be even more direct…. They’d better stop marching to the drum of ultra conservative rhetoric.  Personally, I’m a big fan of GOP fiscal policy and even their foreign policy most of the time.  But their social policy often leaves me cold and I will not be associated with a group that thinks the way the GOP leadership does about gun control and some other issues. 

When it is time for me to vote, I will vote.   And it will often be for the Republican Candidate because the balance of ideas favors them at the time.  I will not stay home.  But my vote is up for grabs.  I need to be impressed that you give a damn about my country and not your reelection before you get my money or my support.

Back to this Obamacare issue…. Shut the hell up and come up with something better.  Heck, reforming welfare was a bedrock GOP issue for a generation but it took a Democrat President to actually come up with legislation and get it done.  Prohibition was a stupid idea that actually made it into the Constitution but was repealed when it was learned to be flawed.  If Obamacare is flawed (as so many think it is) let’s repeal it with the vote of our elected officials as soon as they have the support.  But myself, I see bitter men and women who cannot believe that a lifelong Democrat idea has actually become law and they think the country and our lien holders (via the debt ceiling) can be held hostage to prove how disappointed they are.

All Independent candidates should give me a call.  I might just sign a petition or something.