THE INDEPENDENT VOTER
MYTH
By:
Mike Foil
I’m afraid
we have done it again. The Left has been
allowed to define the “independent voter” group and the Republicans have bought
it; hook, line and sinker. For some
reason, it is commonly accepted that the “independent voter” is to be found
somewhere between the Republican and Democrat platforms.
Every two
years, during the campaigns, we see Republicans running as conservatives during
the primary elections and then moving to the left for the general
election. Their explanation is always
that they have to run more “moderate” or “to the center” in order to get the
votes of the “independent voters”.
The
Democrats are constantly reminding the Republicans (out of the goodness of
their hearts) that they better abandon the “right wing” policies or they will
never win the much needed independent voter group.
So, where is
that middle gap between the parties? The
Democrat Party has gone to the far left and the Republican Party has gone to
the left, filling in the space vacated by the Democrats. Sure, not all Democrats are far left, but
their party is. Not all Republicans are
middle-of-the road, or moderates, but their party is.
The Democrat
Party is controlled by hard-core Liberal/Socialists. The Republican Party is controlled by
soft-core Liberals. There is not a big
gap between the parties. It is a myth
that the “independent voter” will be won by the Republicans acting like the
right wing of the Democrat Party.
By using the
term, “independent voter”, I am not just referring to those registered as “Independents”;
but to many of the voters who align themselves with neither, major party. The last time the Republicans ran an honest
conservative, who was able to articulate the conservative platform, was Ronald
Reagan. If you remember, he won by a
landslide. We have not had a major
victory like that since then and we continue to repeat the same process of
nominating one moderate after another.
The Republican Party leadership keeps telling us the same thing the
Democrats tell us, that a conservative cannot win a presidential election. Since history tells us otherwise, maybe the
two voices which act in unison have the same agenda.
When I hear
people like Sean Hannity leave the Republican Party and register as a
Conservative and Mark Levin saying that he is tempted to leave the Republican
Party if they blow this election and become an Independent, I realize that the
non-Republican and non-Democrat voters are more than likely found to the right
of the Republican Party than to the left.
The
hard-core socialists have a party. The
soft-core socialists have a party. It is
the voter who is traditionally conservative that has no home. I believe that Republicans would fare much
better in general elections by standing up as strong and proud
conservatives.
Not every
Latino, not every woman, not every black and not every gay has a personal
agenda that aligns with Socialism. These
“target” groups are made up of individual, free-thinking people. Many of them come from traditional
backgrounds and are looking for opportunity and freedom, not dependency.
The “independent
voter”, at least those who are engaged and care about the future of this
country and their families, is more likely to be found to the right of the
Republicans. Those who are not
interested are not the group who will be voting in any large numbers to begin
with.
