Thomas Jefferson was the epitome of independent thinking and was a political genius. His genius was his true understanding of human nature. Jefferson knew how groups of people that fomented mob mentality were a danger to individual liberty. He was a man of faith but knew how allowing the men of cloth to dominate political affairs was dangerous for individual liberty. He could separate his religious beliefs from civic principle. He knew morality was the foundation of our republic and that by keeping faith separate from government it would allow faith to flourish which in his mind would preserve the foundation of our representative republic and principles.
Jefferson believed that party politics was a natural outcome of any political argument or election, but he believed the inherent problem with parties was the undermining principle of group over individual. He was a thinker on every subject and I often wonder what he would have said about today’s two party system. Probably the same things he said in his day;
“I never submitted the whole system of my opinions to the creed of any party of men whatever, in religion, in philosophy, in politics, or in anything else, where I was capable of thinking for myself. Such an addiction is the last degradation of a free and moral agent. If I could not go to heaven but with a party, I would not go there at all.” –Thomas Jefferson to Francis Hopkinson, 1789.
I value his words and I share with you my reason for actively running unaffiliated from any party. It is not because I disagree with every issue being represented by party politics, it is because I like to think about issues and make choices that are not influenced by how they impact a political party, but how an issue impacts individual citizens. I believe there are more people that think like me but are addicted to the “machine” that has fueled party politics. That machine is mostly a fundraising mechanism. There are so many good people in the party system but I believe we are better served when we serve individual liberty over party unity. I am not alone and the numbers support my argument.
There are 1,078,896 Colorado residents that have chosen to be unaffiliated voters. Compared to people that have chosen the Democratic Party, 1,058,785 and 1,048,669 in the Republican Party. The Unaffiliated voter group is bigger than either party. These statistics from the Secretary of State’s office tell a story that must be told. We need to ask ourselves as voters why we continue to invest our votes in a party when we have chosen not to associate with that same party organization. This year I am doing my part to represent the unaffiliated voter; the largest group of voters in Colorado.
This is NOT a third party movement; it is a movement to elect candidates that are not tied to the special interests of either party. In the traditions of one of the greatest political thinkers of all time, Thomas Jefferson, I am reaching out to individual voters of every party to stand as Coloradans against the tyranny of an out of control federal government. We must rally around our founding principles and stop the division fueled by our party system.
The federal government has recently shown what they think of our rights and the constitution by shoving through the Healthcare bill against the will of the people. The next Governor is the best line of defense to reaffirm our constitution and to stop the federal government’s trampling of our rights. They are governing as if they have dictatorial power, and have unrestrained rights to force you into any program they choose. They can do this because of the way the party system has created the rules in congress; parties matter more than individual representatives. The constitution gives the congress the authority to set the rules of how the congress operates. The rules favor party politics over individual district representation. We have given the parties too much power at the federal level. They have the power to change it but they will not. That would mean that we would actually have true debate about ideas and issues instead of party line votes. That would mean we would have to elect thinkers to congress instead of party loyalists.
At the state level we don’t need political parties to elect good candidates. We only need voters willing to do their homework about what their choices are for candidates. You do have more than two choices in the 2010 election. I hope you think for yourself and do your homework…
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