The plight, and the light, of independents in our two-party controlled elections.
So, the 2020 elections are over (-ish). In his acceptance speech, Biden thanked many people, including independents. Maybe he knew what we now know, that independents gave Biden the winning margin in Wisconsin, Georgia, and my home state Pennsylvania. He might have heard by then what we know now, which is that 54% of independents voted for the Biden-Harris ticket.
You’re welcome, President Elect Biden. While we independents will take the thank you, we will also not forget that once again major party candidates, as well as the media, largely ignore, misunderstand, and misrepresent us. Independents make up 42% of the electorate in the US, and we won't be stopped by our plights, like being locked out of full participation in our publicly funded elections. We will also focus on our light, our superpower of non-partisanship. What is our role now as independents, post 2020 elections?
The government is not the only entity going through a transition. The American people are as well. Independents need to play a leadership role in this transition. We have been clobbered by the two parties, with the help of the media, and something like 16 billion dollars worth of messaging, where both parties say that the other side is an existential threat. Demonize and divide. Not that there aren’t important differences and real challenges we face, but the two parties now calling/crying out for unity is more than a bit ironic given the role they played in dividing us.
"On the one hand perhaps we are divided; a question to ask is: Whether we are divided or whether we are being divided? There might not have been a blue or red mandate, but there was an independent mandate."
-- Jackie Salit, President, independentvoting.org
Let us move beyond demonization and create a political movement with a new kind of unity. A unity that honors and expands what independents, and most Americans, care about: fairness, freedom, justice and respect, entrepreneurship, prosperity, development and peace. Independents are the leaders of that movement. How do that?
Demand inclusion of independents in all elections
Challenge the Democratic Party’s claim that they own fairness and the POC / minority / identity politics vote
Challenge the Republican Party’s claim that they own the anti-establishment and clean-up-waste-in-government vote
We can’t take a stand against hate and then be a hater ourselves. Be a spokesperson anywhere you can (talk with neighbors, letters to the editor, TV interviews, blogs and vlogs, podcasts) on the unifying independent “platform”: fairness, freedom, justice, respect, entrepreneurship, prosperity development and peace.