I-N-D-E-P-E-N-D-E-N-T! Do You Know What That Means?!?

Yep, I'm doing it. I pretty much made up my mind months ago. That's right, I'm kissing the Democratic Party goodbye and rollin' dolo from now on out.

As I've said here repeatedly, I would probably never vote for a Republican Presidential candidate for some very real reasons (sorry Condi), but state and local races are another issue altogether. I have, and will continue to vote for County Execs, Councilmen, Mayors, etc. who represent my best interests, party affiliation be damned. Filling potholes and funding schools has very little to do with arcane philosophies on nebulous crap like "big government vs small government" and rights of gun ownership.

The Democratic Party has had my vote for quite some time. I, like many black folks, inherited this from my parents, and I don't knock it. But once you get old enough to think for yourself and understand issues, you don't need to keep doing something simply just because it was handed down to you.

And then there's the small matter of the lack of regard the Dems showed Black America during the race for their candidacy in the Spring. No party bigwigs jumped in and told Hillary Clinton to fall back when the inevitable was apparent. No party bigwigs told Bill Clinton to shut his trap and quit wallowing in the abyss of racial politricks. No party bigwigs called the media out for their subliminally sexist and blatantly racist coverage. And no party bigwig intervened to put an end to that Florida and Michigan nonsense, allowing the race to drag on, robbing Obama of financial resources and only widening the gap he'd eventually have to close with Clinton supporters.

Seriously, are these the folks who are supposed to represent me? I think not. Only I can represent me. Reality is, I don't agree with many Democratic stances on the most pressing issues, nor do I disagree with the GOP on everything. So since I'm an independent thinker, why not change my party affiliation (to unaffiliated) to reflect this?

Because as a wise man once said, "There are no permanent friends or permanent enemies in politics. Only permanent interests".[1]

The only downside of this is that my state's primaries are closed, which sorta cuts me out of the action in a sense. But I consider this a fair tradeoff for my freedom. Come November, the day after my man Barry makes history, I'm heading down to the Board of Elections and makin' it official.

Give us free!!!

I know some of you may be wondering why the wait? If I'm so insistent about this, why not send the message right now? I unfortunately had some issues with Systematic Disenfranchisement my registration when I moved recently, and this lead to some big problems when I showed up to vote during the Potomac Primaries. I can't afford any more surprises on November 4th.

November 5th, on the other hand, is another story.

I-N-D-E-P-E-N-D-E-N-T!!!



Question: Are you registered as unaffiliated? What are the downsides, other than the aforementioned? Have you considered changing your party affiliation? If you are for some odd reason or another not registered to vote at all, how about changing that today by clicking here and getting it over with?

[1] Anyone know who said this?