This is an interesting election year I must say. We have the media doing their pundit thing and the politicians doing their spin. Both major parties talk about change, in particular Barrack Obama is milking that word for what it’s worth. I have to say what kind of change is he really talking about? It reminds me of that 1980s Wendy’s commercial, “Where’s the beef?” It’s all a bunch of rhetoric from the major candidates: Obama and McCain. And, you the voter know all this—nothing is going to change as long as the major parties are in charge.

Why do we have only two major parties and the labels that go with it? Right, left, liberal, conservative—these terms are what we Americans are mostly familiar with. What about centrist, independent, unaffiliated? Think about the division that we have in our county with the “left” and “right” mentality. All the name calling and offending statements that go back and forth—childish, wouldn’t you say? You know what’s worse, I’ve heard as a former Republican that the Democrats were of the devil and God was a Republican. Oh, give me a break! Since when did God register as a Republican?

There are issues that I agree with from both parties. On the Republican side, I believe in the rights of the unborn and on the Democratic side I like how this party looks out for the interests of the working class. I have libertarian views, but I’m still registered Republican because I wanted to work the polls and vote for Ron Paul during the primaries and I had to belong to one of the major parties to work in the election process—I find that this is unfair for the Independents.

One of the reasons why Ron Paul is running on the Republican ticket is because he knows that he would get much more media coverage as opposed to running as an Independent. But, the sad thing is that the media still treats him as an Independent—they pretty much ignore him like any other Independent candidate. He also thinks that the political system we have is unfair. It’s pretty much set up to where either a Democrat or a Republican must win.

Now, going back to the change issue—I believe that if we didn’t have the major parties in office that it would be a dramatic change, my husband said it would be heaven. If we started from a clean slate politically, get rid of the labels, party politics, and the annoying pundits, what would we have? We would just vote for a candidate for who they are and what they stand for—no additives or preservatives. Why don’t we vote for the person of character instead of what party they belong to? Think different—vote independent.