What It Means to be an Independent

A main part of this blog is to see an Independent's view on the current political atmosphere.  To truly understand what that means, you need to know what an Independent is.  No, the Independents do not belong to the American Independent Party.  That is a far-right political party and something entirely different.

When I say independent, I mean that we are independent to parties.  You might hear us refereed to as nonpartisans.  I will be using both terms, so please note that they mean the same thing.  By definition, nonpartisan is and adjective meaning "not partisan; free from party affiliation, bias, or designation"(1).  That means that a Nonpartisan/Independent does not fully agree with any party.  If we did, then we would belong to that party and no longer nonpartisan.

That also means that we are not correctly represented in polls dealing with registered votes.  For example: when I registered to vote in a Primary Election, I had to register as a Republican or a Democrat.  That is because I am registered to vote in a free-for-all state that only recognizes those two parties.  Any polling numbers dealing with registered voters by party that includes my state or any state that works in similar fashion does not reflect accurate data.  That is because registered Republicans and Democrats that identify as nonpartisan are not truly affiliated with those parties.  We are grouped with others that we may not share the same viewpoints with.  I had a nice rant on Facebook that day about having to choose between a Jackass and fat ass, but that's another matter.  Just remember that data involving Independents is not 100% accurate because not all Independents/Nonpartisans are correctly represented.

To be a good Nonpartisan, you need to be open-minded.  You have to look at all sides and listen to all of the facts.  You also need to have good critical thinking and analyzing skills.  A Nonpartisan needs to be able to spot sketchy and questionable evidence and logic.  Politicians are good at taking something and manipulating it, most of the time taking it out of context, to fit their point.  I will go into deeper discussion on this in a separate post.

Being independent to parties allows Nonpartisans to think freely.  We are not swayed by representatives of either party without analyzing what is being said.  We have all heard of the Republicans and Democrats that vote for someone just because they are Republican or Democrat.  That is not nonpartisan.  That is what we in the literary world call Big Brother and that is also the topic of a separate post.

I will honestly inform you that I lean toward more progressive thinking, so I have a tendency to agree more with Democrats than Republicans.  That does not mean that I identify as one.  I look at what both sides have to say and I use logic, facts, and reason to form my own opinions and draw my own conclusions.  I might agree with Ted Cruz on one issue, but Elizabeth Warren on another.

In a nut shell, this is what you need to know about Independents/Nonpartisans:

1. No party affiliations
2. Not accurately represented in polls
3. Open-minded and willing to listen to all sides
4. Critical thinkers and analyzers
5. Free thinkers

References:
(1)  "Nonpartisan." Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 10 Feb. 2017. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nonpartisan