party crashing
by Wesley Vaughn
Published: February 18, 2008
Constant bickering, lack of action, profuse lies, and major disapproval leads to dire situations such as the one we currently face. No, I am not talking about Roger Clemens’ hearings. I am talking about the extreme partisanship in our government and America’s craving of a new party.
According to recent polls in Times Magazine, 40% of 18-24 year old voters declare themselves independents. Also out of all registered voters, 40% would be willing to vote independent if a qualified candidate was nominated. This support for a non-Democrat and non-Republican party fully displays the real “hope for change” in America. After attempting to reform D.C. by voting in a Democratic-led congress in 2006, Americans disappointingly watched the new Congress not achieve many of the goals they set during the elections.
In the current presidential race, the same phenomenon may again hinder Republican hopes of reaching the White House. Republicans who want out of Iraq or who dislike the front-runner, John McCain, have returned to the Democratic ballot for a candidate. Though many disagree with the respective platforms of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, they do believe one of these two hopefuls would run the White House more efficiently than McCain.
All of these circumstances open the door to the crashing of American politics by an independent party. Such a candidate would need a good deal of money before the campaign, a solid core of support and wide reaching goals that hit both sides of the political spectrum. Throw in a charismatic personality and we’ve got ourselves a winner. Though the chances are slim of finding such an individual, I’m not giving up hope.
Though “change” is the current election buzzword, I’m not impressed with the prospects. An African American or female president, does not a revolution make. So unless an independent candidate steps forward, the 2008 elections will be “historical” only in the sense that history will again repeat itself.
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