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I'm an independent voter. I'm a registered Democrat, and have been for a decade now, but spent most of my life affiliated with no party. I registered as a Democrat in January of 2001 to protest the selection. Generally, I think less of Democrats since becoming one than I did from the outside. Too much "getting in line" for the team, and not enough standing for, fighting for, and working for, Democratic and democratic principals, in my opinion.
While I'm a registered Democrat, I'm not a partisan. I'm an issues voter and will vote for the candidate best on the issues, and with the best record on those issues, regardless of party. The only worthwhile purpose of a political party is to stand for, to work for, and to move issues forward. In my case, forward means LEFT. Not only LEFT, but moving LEFT-OF-CENTER. The farther left the nation goes, the better; that's my over-arching political goal. Democrats who will work for that get my votes. Democrats who won't, don't. Which is exactly how I've always voted. Democrats got the majority of my votes when I was an independent. Republicans didn't get my votes, ever. Third parties and independents have gotten my votes when they earned them.
Politics is not a team sport for me. "Winning" is about winning on the issues. As I see the nation, and the Democratic Party, evolving down a trail I don't want to follow, the party gets less of my support.
I'm also an independent in life outside of politics. I don't fit the cultural or social main stream. I never have. There is not any area of my life in which I "follow" a leader or group. I always make up my own mind, choose my own path, make my own decisions, and very, very rarely do I EVER ask anyone's advice. While I participate in group activities at times, those groups don't define me. I am very much the "Lone Wolf" my screen name indicates. The older I get, the more pronounced my "lone wolf" status becomes. My sons are very much the same; the pups raised by a Lone Wolf don't fit the pack, either. My mother was an independent who became a Democrat in time to elect Bill Clinton. She is luke-warm on the party, but is still a hard-core Clinton fan. We've always disagreed on Clinton. My oldest son is a registered Democrat who votes for Democrats in order to defeat Republicans. He's not a fan of any politician, and will happily rip any of them apart, depending on what innocent fool wants to talk to him about any particular politician or political party. Playing devil's advocate, regardless of who he supports or votes for, is one of his favorite sports. My youngest son is registered to vote, but not with a party. He thinks the entire system is corrupt, despises all political parties and politicians, and, unlike his brother, has no interest in arguing about it.
And yes, I voted. I voted on Sunday, October 10th, a couple of days after I, and the rest of my state, got our ballots in the mail. I mailed it off on Monday the 11th. For the record, this time around I voted for every Democrat on the ballot. Ron Wyden earns my vote. Joyce Segers has no chance, imo, of defeating Greg Walden, but she got my vote. I'm grateful to her for challenging him. The only Democrat on the ballot I didn't really want to vote for was Kitzhaber. There were a couple of 3rd party candidates I liked better. Not better enough, though, to risk letting Chris Dudley become the new governor in a tight race between the two major party candidates that neither of the small party guys were going to beat. Oregon putting a republican in the governor's seat is a disaster for the state and not good news for the nation, either, and the race is too tight for comfort.
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