The Conversion of an Independent

Note: This post first appeared as a comment to an article on The New Republic's website on Thursday, Jan 3; it was revised and re-posted as a note on my Facebook account at 5:57pm on that same day. Only minor modifications have been made before posting it here. When I first registered to vote in Massachusetts, waaay back in 2003, I checked the box marked “independent” when I was asked about my political affiliation. For the next 4 years I continued to stubbornly insist that I was an independent whenever asked, despite my support for a range of left-of-center views on many issues and my vote for John Kerry in 2004 (I'm convinced that he couldn't have won Massachusetts without my support). Yet I stand before you today as a registered Democrat, and there is exactly one reason why I took this step: I now live in New Jersey, and I want to vote for Barack Obama on Super Tuesday. I retain the right to renounce my party affiliation immediately after February 5th, 2008, and perhaps I will if the Democratic base makes the wrong decision, as both bases are accustomed to doing year after year. The truth is, most Americans agree on a wide range of significant and important issues. As Barack Obama once said, back when lots of Democrats believed in him, "We worship an ‘awesome God’ in the Blue States, and we don’t like federal agents poking around in our libraries in the Red States. We coach Little League in the Blue States and yes, we’ve got some gay friends in the Red States. There are patriots who opposed the war in Iraq and there are patriots who supported the war in Iraq. We are one people, all of use pledging allegiance to the stars and stripes, all of us defending the United States of America.” The preferences of the Moderate Majority are continually subverted by the interest groups, extremists, and partisan hacks on the left and on the right. Most other democratic countries avoid this problem by allowing a true multi-party system to operate via parliamentary politics. They also offer a tantalizing advantage over American "democracy": the votes of "all men (and women) are created equal.” If we had such a system in America, perhaps John McCain would have been elected president in 2000, and I think most of us can agree that America would have been much better off for it. In fact, in the (fairly unlikely) case that I find myself choosing between John McCain and a democrat like John Edwards (or Bill Richardson…heh…) on election day, McCain will be getting a serious look from this “registered democrat.” I admit that I may be setting myself up for a huge fall. If Obama loses the nomination, I’m sure I’ll deal. But if he does get elected, and it turns out that I’m wrong about him - if it turns out that he does not have the sincerity, the integrity, the intelligence, and the desire to do the right thing that he so plainly projects - then I may give up the tattered remnants of belief in the American democratic process that I still retain. Nevertheless, I would rather “hope” that Barack Obama is the savior of American politics that I believe him to be than give up all hope for this country whatsoever. So don’t deride this independent revolution. Obama motivates unlikely people to get involved. He gives hope to many of those who have lost faith in American democracy and our electoral system. That, at least, has been the case for me.