As someone who has participated in building a grassroots from-the-bottom-up independent political movement for more than 25 years and has monitored news by, for, and about independent voters for ten years, I can tell you “we’ve come a long way, baby.”
Twenty-five years ago, high school students thought it was illegal to run for President as an independent. Starting in 2006, the pollsters started including independent voters in their stats. Ever since then, elections are all about the independent voters.
They call us “fickle”, “wild card”, “leaners”… What they don’t call us is late for dinner. Or insignificant!
Please check in on the following important articles from some important independent and progressive political leaders:
The Parties Are Over (by Jacqueline Salit, NEW YORK NEWSDAY) Goodbye two-Party system? Discontent is building to open up the political process…
/wp-content/uploads//2010/11/jackiesalit.jpg”>
“The Rise of Unaffiliated Voters” (Kathryn Mobley with Dr. Omar H. Ali, National Public Radio – 88.5 WFDD, North Carolina)
EXCLUSIVE: Filmmaker Michael Moore on Midterm Elections, the Tea Party, and the Future of the Democratic Party (Democracy Now with Amy Goodman)
Provocateur/ pundit/ organizer Nancy Hanks is a long-time activist in the independent political movement who’s done it all: petitioning to put independent candidates on the ballot from New York to Texas and points east, west, north and south; fundraising for the independent think tank, the Committee for a Unified Independent Party (CUIP), and its online counterpart, IndependentVoting.org; running as an independent for New York City Council from Queens, New York City’s most diverse borough; serving as the current Treasurer of the Queens County Committee of the Independence Party of New York (of the IP NYC Organizations); conducting research for the Neo-Independent, a magazine that addresses the concerns of independent voters.