Registering to vote with a party affiliation allows you to vote in primary elections. Nothing more. There is no oath of loyalty involved. Register with the party you want to influence in the primaries. Then, in the general elections, hold your nose and vote for whichever candidate you hate the least.
I’m registered affiliated only so I can vote in primaries. In general elections, I’m independent. If I support women’s right to choose, free birth control for the poor, death with dignity and want religious dogma out of my government, I should be a Democrat, right? But if I want the feds to curtail welfare giveaway programs and think a $15 minimum wage is absurd, I should be a Republican. But if I don’t support welfare programs to big business and big ag, and believe military (defense) spending is over the top, I have no party. If I want to reduce the federal deficit and balance the Social Security and Medicare programs, I have no party. If I think the ACA (Obamacare) has failed but that the old medical system handing all the power to big pharma and insurance companies was also a failure, I certainly have no party.
If I think that law-abiding citizens should have the right to own guns, but believe that unregulated gun purchases, free access to automatic weapons and concealed carry for everyone everywhere enables more gun violence, which party should I support? Neither one. Neither party comes close to representing me. They have not earned my votes nor my donations.
How many of you unaffiliated majority voters feel as I do? How many of you who don’t vote feel as I do?
Patrick Lyon
Durango
