How can a lifelong Independent ever trust Republicans again?

Question

You needn't attempt to make a case for either major party candidate. I've already decided on Obama months ago and I support him enthusiastically. But I'm concerned that the Republicans just don't understand why they're having so much trouble winning over those of us whose practice it is to vote independently of party label.

Much of the support of Obama is the result of the disaster that the Republican president and Congress left us with, and it's you Republicans who had the poor judgment to allow them to get there. Even I, as an Independent, realized just how incompetent Bush would be and refused to vote for him in both the 2000 and 2004 elections. There really was no excuse for not seeing that, either time, except for willful blindness or just plain ignorance.

Now I am concerned that you are making the same dangerous mistakes you made in both of those years. You are supporting a candidate who was immensely helpul in allowing Bush to do his dirty deeds. And many of you are also supporting that candidate's running mate who has already proved that she is just about as dishonest as they come.

So I hope you'll understand if Independents (and that's about 20% of us) choose to go with candidates other than the ones you are promoting. It's just too hard to trust anything they say after the disastrous conditions they have brought upon our country, and I suspect it will take at least another 8 (probably longer) before most of us can even consider the possibility of trusting them again.

I will not mark any candidate's name with an "R" next to it this time. I simply cannot trust them--ANY of them.

Answer 1

whats the title of your book...."Cry me a river"?

Answer 2

I am and I'm too smart to trust that Party.  They should be investigated and disbanded

Answer 3

The only people who decide on Obama are people who have not thought. He's partially black and eloquent, that is not enough to vote a person for president of the United States. He has less experience than any presidential candidate in seventy five years.

So what thought process did you really undertake?

As for gasoline,  when did it start to go down in price? Two weeks after President Bush lifted the federal ban on off shore oil drilling. It does not take 2 years or 4 years or 7 years of new drilling to bring the price down, just by starting the process is enough.

Answer 4

I can't say I trust either, republican or democrat. And I would vote Green Party if I didn't think I'd be throwing away my vote. The only reason I'm voting Obama, who wasn't even my first choice in the democratic party, is to get republicans out the White House before they start WWIII. In the last few weeks, Cheney and Rice have been in Eastern Europe wreaking havoc wherever they go. Let's hope the Bush/Cheney junta doesn't go ahead and bomb Iran after the November elections as a parting shot of their mad foreign policy.    

Answer 5

McCain took on his party the other night. Obama did not do that at the Dem convention.  McCain chose a woman as his running mate, Obama did not.  McCain said he is done with everyone getting a free ride at the expense of the people. Obama never made that distinction. He never said he would tolerate that behavior any longer in the Dem party. This is why people are voting for McCain and why I will be voting for McCain. Obama is an elitist sexist pig.

Answer 6

Very well said.

Answer 7

ROCK ON, brother...this Independent will never vote for the Demented and the Fundie whack job.

Republicans = the party of the Narrow Minded

Answer 8

I did easily.

It all started with the Clinton Administration. Many have forgotten about it, but I certainly haven't forgotten the hardships the corrupt  Democrats got this country into.

The Liberals to this day still keep the government corrupt. They use Bush as a scapegoat because he is a Republican. They don't fool me. I know it's Congress that really runs the country, not the president.

Independent for McCain

We vote for people, not parties

@Wowie

Amen to that. It's sad that the thumbs down is being used as a tool for judging someone simply because their opinion is different rather than the answer not being a good one. But I suppose I'm taking this whole site too seriously.

Answer 9

I smell trolls ...... Obamaniac democrats posing as independents.

Answer 10

I'm independent, and I support McCain.

But, that's the glory of being Independent, though, right? We don't even have to agree with each other.

;)

Jeez, I didn't thumbs-down the "I'm independent voting for Obama" person. Seriously, you people that thumbs-down just because someone has a different opinion are a little off your rocker.

Answer 11

What makes us independent is that we don't trust EITHER party.  We understand what a majority of the electorate conveniently overlook - that these candidates for public office are POLITICIANS first, last and always.  They will say or do anything to get elected and then they will govern however they so choose.  They are not really interested in "issues" or "solving problems"; but they do use "issues" to get what they really want - MONEY and POWER.  Once you understand that governing is all about WHO is in POWER and WHO gets the MONEY, it makes it much easier to look at these candidates for the phony hypocrites they really are; and then cross your fingers, hold your nose and pull the lever for the lesser of the two evils.

That is our American Democracy at work.

Answer 12

The country didn't go to h**l in a hand basket until the Dem's took over congress. Cant blame this on the Republicans. Everyone said the last year and a half have been the worst. Think back eveyrone, thats when the Dems took control of Congress. Lay the blame where it belongs.  

Answer 13

Trust them.

McCain really is an amazing candidate. He will turn this country around. It's really true. Bush was not exactly an, erm, ideal president. But trust me.McCain is. He is especially better than Obama....if it's between McCain and Obama, Obama better not win! AKA, McCain deserves this. He is so much better than Obama for the job. Obama will just be learning. He has had less experience than Sarah Palin! McCain is a TRUE American hero.

Answer 14

I have always voted independant.   However, Obama will only raise taxes to create "programs" to keep people in the lower class and do nothing for our energy problems.  I look at the records of McCain and Palin and how they both have gone against their own party to fight corruption and good ol' boy politics.   Obama has done nothing of the sort.  He has wrote a memoir and went to Harvard.   This independant vote is going to the Republicans this time, and with great conviction.

Answer 15

However your DNC commercial is missing one detail, Senator McCain and Gov. Palin are not the same old Republicans that caused this mess. At least be serious about that.

Answer 16

One can only hope.

The REASON the Republicans are stuck with McCain is BECAUSE Independents were allowed to vote in the Republican Primaries.

(Something the California courts declared unconstitutional)

So now we get to choose between a Liberal & a man who can't say no to Liberals.

JFTR our lovely Liberals voted for the Iraq war, then did their best to lose it.

If you think all this country needs is more Socialism & higher taxes, quit pretending you are Independent or for that matter, intelligent enough to vote.

I respect the right of Independants to vote for whoever they want,   but HATE the abomination of them choosing candidates for other parties.

Note:ToYou2 -  Voting any way you like make you Independant.  Deciding how others can vote makes you a n**i.

Answer 17

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washingt...

lol, yeah so much that 5 million more people watched all 4 days of the RNC than did the DNC

34.5 million people tuned into the RNC

27 million to the DNC

dont count us blue collars out.

hillary didnt, she knows we are the silent majority and will step up in nov to be heard then.

Answer 18

How can anyone of right mind trust professional liars like politicians?  From either party.  

Answer 19

Amen.

Answer 20

I've heard of Independents. Isn't that a polite way of saying,"indecisive loser"?

When was the last time those clowns "won" anything? What do those fools "stand for"?

By claiming to be "Independent", they have the built in excuse to whine about anyone who wins, because "their guy" never does!!

Therefore, they are all just a big collection of gutless whiners!!

What you think, is irrelevant. What you say, means nothing, because that is what you represent, NOTHING!!

Honestly, your Party is a JOKE, you will NEVER be worthy of any serious consideration. Go whine at someone who cares!

Answer 21

How could you have ever trusted the Republicans in the first place? Ignore what they say, haven't you been paying attention to their track record.

Answer 22

In order for Republicans to regain the trust of independents they will have to practice what they preach.  This may only come about if they become a minority in both the house, and senate, lose the executive branch and have conservative justices replaced by liberal ones on the Supreme Court.

They have been the largest spenders in US history and as a result the largest taxers in the US.  People need to understand that all government spending is a tax.

Bush has indeed done so poorly he is strangely enough the reason Hilary lost the primary.  People have become fed up with this dynastic presidency that we don't dare have another.

Answer 23

Well hopefully independents aren't trusting any party...I'm a little more to the left as a democrat, but i'm a little open when listening to both side.  I don't trust republicans as a party, but I like a few republicans...But the biggest picture is that the nation is run by two major parties , and that's not good...so we are left to choose between the lesser of the two evils...

Answer 24

You like to look at "recent" history to make up your mind - fine then look at the price of gasoline since the democrats took control of congress; and look at the last 90 days to see which party is trying to do something about it - you know the one party that is trying to "change" things!

Answer 25

nice essay