Becoming Unaffiliated on Presidents Day

Today, on Presidents Day, a day that commemorates George Washington’s birthday, I changed my party affiliation to Unaffiliated, ending 45 years as a registered Democrat. (Now, before you think that I have lost faith, remember that Bernie Sanders is also an Independent.)

Why did I do that? For one thing, while I lean blue (I caucus with Progressives), I am sick of being personally associated with people I can’t respect. Politicians who shift their values based on polling results instead of leading people. People who whine about the degradation of civil rights instead of fighting for them.

Yes, there are a lot of Democrats who are willing to take risks to stand up for freedom. I love and respect those people. Look at Jacob Frey, the mayor of Minneapolis, who said to ICE leadership “Get the fuck out of Minneapolis!” Did he check with analysts about how the polling numbers would shake out if he dropped the F-bomb? No, he was true to his beliefs and spoke out of righteous anger. Dems need more of that.

Republicans have the upper hand when it comes to leading people. No, I haven’t shifted toward the Trump camp. I just won’t pretend that they aren’t effective leaders. They ignore polls, they focus on shifting people’s beliefs. Look, polls are great for seeing if your message is getting traction. But if you see the numbers fall off, then don’t shift your tactics and pick a better issue to anchor against. Learn to lead instead. Use the polling to help you perfect your talking points, but stay true to what you are passionate about. And if you have no particular passion that motivates you, then get the fuck out of politics!

I can tell you that I feel sorry for most Republicans, politically, as it becomes ever more clear that the Trump family used the Presidency to make billions illegally, through insider trading, bribes, and crypto schemes, while pushing the country toward true Fascism. If it were Biden or Harris doing the same, I would have been slow to wake up, for sure, especially if the things I truly cared about politically were actually being accomplished. But I like to think that by now I would be enraged by the corruption.

And we are finally seeing some of that awakening on the Right. Honestly, given the pedophiles and the pardoning of drug lords and the rise of crypto-maniac American oligarchs who will replace American jobs with AI and robots, I would be happy to join forces with Republicans to re-establish at least the rule of law, if not a respect for basic decency and human rights.

My neighborhood is evenly split Republican and Democrat. I can drink whisky and shoot guns and ride my Harley with any of them. The whole street is invited when we have a Halloween party. Politics used to be about differences in matters of policy, and honestly, if you look at the record, 70% of laws enacted by Congress are non-partisan. But today’s post-truth world, poisoned by social media, network news propaganda, and soon artificial intelligence, is being used to divide Americans in dangerous ways.

So what am I now that I am an Unaffiliated Voter in the Great State of North Carolina? Well, if you drew a line with Democrat on the left and Republican on the right, I would be so far out that you would need another dimension to describe it. But I am an American, and a Patriot, a weird mix of Capitalist and Socialist, someone who thinks globally, acts locally, and probably doesn’t match any polling demographic.

And I wouldn’t be surprised if most Americans are like me in many ways: mistrustful of government but hey, thanks for all those swell roads and bridges and health insurance and Social Security. I worry about the militarization of the police, but I donate annually to the local Sheriff’s Association and I never miss a chance to thank the Military for their service in keeping us safe. So do you appreciate America’s prosperity, but also feel a little weird about the nasty things we do to other countries in order to keep oil and lithium flowing? Yeah, me too. And wtf is this about Greenland?  

My wife and I love watching WWII movies; it was a time when The Greatest Generation knew right from wrong. She’s an American but was born in France, where to this day they still appreciate being freed from the claws of the Nazis. So if there was really such a thing as an Anti-Fascist Movement, I would join it. Anti-Fascism is what we fought WWII for. It is what we as Americans stand against. Fascism is the antithesis of democracy, and there is no doubt that we are sliding dangerously close to it.

So when the home-grown Fascists claim that Antifa, which is a made-up name that simply means Anti-Fascist, is somehow a terrorist organization, aren’t they really claiming that two thirds of Americans, those who stand with the Constitution and the Bill of Rights and Democracy, are somehow terrorists? Look, the Trump administration is just demonizing American protesters, and sure, the black and red Antifa flag is scary looking. That flag, and the 3 arrows, are symbols from the 1930’s, from anti-Nazi, anti Communist banners. Good grief, those were the good guys!

Look instead at who is gunning down true American patriots, standing up for freedom in the streets of Minneapolis. I guess if I had to be affiliated, I would want to stand with Minnesotans. Tough people, passionate about Liberty. You want to talk about domestic terrorists? Look no further than the dudes in the camo, walking up and gunning down frightened moms in their cars.

So you get the picture. On Presidents Day, I do actually think about George Washington. How he refused to become a king. And maybe this quote from old George is apt today: “If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.”