Why independents are proud to be independent, especially today

By Kelli Lundgren

Did you know only one in five top issues important to Utah’s Republican Party, and two in five top issues important to Utah’s Democratic Party, are also important to unaffiliated Utah registered voters? With very few high priority concerns in common, Utah’s 1,000,000 plus unaffiliated voters have very little representation in this state (since this post, Utah has removed "removable" independents from the count and the number is lower). Yet we are Utah's majority block of voters. Our numbers are greater than either the count of Republican or Democratic registered voters.

With exceptions, independents are usually not that into fear mongering rhetoric, although we get concerned about politics, the state of our nation, and the denial of facts by our leaders. In Utah, we’re not much into the right to bear and collect arsenals of arms. Nor are we livid over land access or states rights superseding federal laws and regulations. We perhaps like to choose candidates because of their individual qualities and integrity rather than their devotion to a political party.

We are independents after all. We like our individual freedom to choose.

Many but not all of the unaffiliated sit somewhere in the middle, thinking it’s good to have extremes for debate and compromise, hoping that the compromise will lead our state or nation in a positive direction. But it’s not happening.

Someone suggested that unaffiliated voters somehow are proud of their status. Yes we are. And I can tell you why. We are disgusted with the condition of politics in our state and nation. We are repelled by the stalemate between Republicans and Democrats nationally. This stalemate seems to be caused by a party willing to sacrifice the good of the whole, against the advice of most economists, in order to stick wholeheartedly, and sometimes irrationally, to ideology that has nothing to do with our nation’s best interests, or the intent of freedom and liberties for all.

In Utah, our state has one of the lowest voter turnout percentages in the nation, 53.8% of Utah registered voters, 34% of all adult Utah residents. Why do we have such a low turnout when just thirty-one years ago (1980) Utah had one of the highest turnout rates in the country, 80% of registered voters?

I believe there are a few reasons. One, many Utah citizens don’t think our vote will count. And if our opinions don’t match those of far-right conservatives now holding the reigns of our political system, our voices get discounted or diluted; discounted when someone tries to show up to a Republican caucus meeting and is rejected as a potential delegate if the caucus host disagrees, and diluted through redistricting. Utah’s Republican Party redrew the voting districts this year to protect favored incumbents and to disperse unwanted votes equally across as many districts as possible.

Represent Me Utah! attended December 16th’s Utah Foundation hosted debate on Utah's political party caucus/convention systems. Presenters were discussing either their satisfaction with or their problem with Republican and Democratic voices getting hijacked by extremists. (I'm still trying to find one Democratic extremist in Utah. The bills they present are fairly benign, mostly because they can only hope their bill even gets looked at by the Republican Supermajority.)

The group pursuing a way around Utah's bad caucus system now has to postpone its efforts, probably due to a lack of funding and due to last year's newly passed bill that makes it almost impossible to implement a citizens initiative.

So many ideas seem noncontroversial to me. Why not accept less-duplicated, less-fraudulent, less-costly e-signatures on initiatives and referendums? Why not offer same-day voter registration? Or an independent commission to decide redistricting? Or open caucus meetings, especially when most of Utah State's legislation gets drafted and strong-armed through in a closed session before the super-majority presents it to the Democrats and the public?

These ideas would simply create a better democracy. Yet, that would mean that those in power may loose some power.

It’s hard to tell the fox guarding the hen house to protect rather than eat the hens. Our leaders making ultimate decisions that do not match the priorities of the majority are feasting on their own perception of democracy, of control, or if you want, of a Constitutional Republic, which I find ironic since the ultimate Constitution we abide by was drafted by the Federal Government, an entity they don’t particularly like.

At this point, the only way I can think of to improve democracy in Utah is to get unaffiliated voters actually out to vote in 2012, to make them believe their vote can count, because it can count, but only if we all vote.

I do not care if you are Republican, Democrat, Libertarian, Constitutionalist, Reform, Green Party or independent, if you vote, and if you are a registered Republican or Democrat and show up to your neighborhood caucus meeting and demand fairness, we can achieve with certainty a more representative democracy in this state.