Unaffiliated: The Third Party

Many people identify with one of the two big parties on paper, but in their hearts they feel misrepresented.  Perhaps this is why many, like myself, have chosen "unaffiliated" as our official designation on our voter registration cards.  I've long held that we need a third party to represent middle America, and I'll tell you why by recounting two friends' perspectives on the parties.

My Republican friend views the constituents of the Democratic party as a bunch of communist, eco-terrorist, tax raising, big spending hippies in suits out to suppress religious freedoms. 

My Democratic friend views the Republican party as ultra-conservative, corporate owned, gun toting, fundamentalist religious nuts bent on seeing us cast into the dark ages of homophobia and Christian creationism as the only possible explanation for life.

Do either of these sound like the majority of Americans?  I don't think so either.  Yet the most vocal portions of these parties, the people who represent these parties, the very small percentage of these parties that make sure their faces are on camera- these are the people who create these perceptions.

I say we let them have their parties.  Let's form our third party for middle America and let the extremes have the parties they hijacked.  One day, perhaps, they'll hold the same political weight as the Whigs and Torries.

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve, and so I sign off until Monday.  Have a lovely weekend, friends, and a very Merry Christmas.

Take care of each other,
MK