The One In the Middle

As a child, I used to love to read the book, The One In The Middle The Green Kangaroo.  This was a book about a young joey kangaroo that felt left out because he was right in the middle of two siblings.  He felt ignored, left out and unimportant on a regular basis.  As I was reading information about independent voters this last year, it made me think of that book and how these independent voters, while their opinions are just as important as everyone else's, are left out of discussions on a regular basis.

Libertarian talking heads and the Tea Party claim the only way to fix the Republican party is to get angry and go hard right.  I do not believe that is what it is going to take to fix the GOP.  Getting angry and going hard right is not going to accomplish unification,  which is what it takes to win elections.  People do not change their opinions because you shove  rhetoric down their throats.  If anything this behavior turns people away.  It's important to remember "you catch more flies with honey than vinegar". People don't like to be around those who fight and are angry all of the time and will avoid participation not to be involved in such.  These angry and aggressive attitudes of libertarians and the tea party are going to divide the Republican party completely and cause a mass exodus to the independent movement. While the GOP has welcomed the tea party and used them to accomplish the goal of bringing the party official back into check and some of the fringe elected officials back into check, many long time loyal Republicans are sick of the libertarian influence on the GOP.  These long time Republicans are abandoning ship and becoming independents.  

Political parties have a goal to get the majority of american voters to join their team so they can win and govern based on what their party believes is best for our country.  The question is what are those beliefs?  Are Americans as divided politically as some of the politicians and talking heads would have us believe? Do fifty percent of Americans really stand on the extreme right and the other half on the extreme left with a no-man’s-land between them?  Is there a 3rd group that makes up the majority who sits comfortably in the middle of no man's land that are known as independents?  Republicans are either going to have to be willing to give something to these independent voters to get their votes or they will lose them.  It is simple as "Do you want to win or lose?"

In a book called The Swing Vote: The Untapped Power of Independent, Linda Killan tells the story of how our polarized political system is not only misrepresenting America but failing it.  According to the Pew Research Center Nationwide, independent or unaffiliated voters account for just under 40 percent of the electorate which is more than either Democrats or Republicans.  Independents occupy the ample political and ideological space in the center and are what most people call moderates. Independent Americans are anything but divided.  As a whole, their beliefs, goals and needs are being ignored. Independents make up the largest voting bloc in the nation and have determined the outcome of every national election since World War II. Every year Independents numbers grow, as does the unconscionable disconnect between them and the officials who are supposed to be representing them. 

  

In December of 2011 a Daily Beast Beast article referred to  Independents as  "Those Voters who refuse to ally themselves with either political party, who’s allegiances are fleeting, who's numbers are growing  and who decide elections."  This key segment of the electorate represents a growing plurality who because of their growing numbers in swing states and their fickleness in recent elections will almost certainly determine the outcome of future elections.  In a study released in 2011 by Third Way, a Washington think tank, they looked at state voter-registration figures and exit polling in 12 battleground states including Colorado, Florida, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia and determined the numbers of independent voters are increasing.

If our goal in this country is to be a true representative democracy, to represent the people who live in this country and win at the national level, the GOP needs to take a hard look at this group of independents, determine what they believe and see if there is anyway we can welcome them back under our "Big Tent"because if  Republicans don't, They are going to continue to lose and get nothing they want at the national level.