So anti-incumbency means you elect the people who brought you catastrophe?

[wowimthere]

If independents are so smart then why can't they see the bill of goods that Scott Brown and rest of the tea baggers are bringing to the table? I don't think Independents think independently. I don't think independents actually think at all, given what I've seen in the senate elections in which Republicans were victorious.

If I can see that Republicans are full of CRAP and it is often said that Independents are more thoughtful about politics then how do they get it so wrong just two years removed from a president that brought you an invasion, a failed war, record unemployment, deficits as far as the eye can see, Brownie, and the biggest of all mothers, the worst terrorist attack on U.S. soil.

They say glowingly, "kick the bums out!" What? So after kicking the bums out, why would you let the same bums you kicked out back in...? You know... the ones that brought you chaos and catastrophe the last 8 years of the last decade? Are Independents gluttons for punishment? Do they like chaos and war and destruction? And this talk of deficits? Those are Republican talking points because when has the deficit ever affected anybody singularly? Deficits don't mean the average working Independent doesn't get his pay check. Deficits are a governmental concern. Independents seem about as loony as well... a tea bagger.

As inept as the Democratic party may be and as child-like as the Republican party is, I'm convinced that Independents simply don't think and don't have the foresight to see beyond the bullshit the media is peddling. Independents are given wayyyy too much credit for being intelligent about politics. Humph. They are making dumb calculations as we speak. They put three Republicans in the senate within the last three months. Three! If Independents can't see the bullshit being peddled by the party of R (just removed a very short while ago) why should we assume they are more pragmatic than the average voter?

If I were an Independent I'd be ashamed to be called one because they surely don't know bullshit when they see it. Or hmmm. Maybe independents are simply "Republican Light".

[PDJane]

1. When they say they're independents,

It usually means they follow someone like Ron Paul. Independents aren't, really, independent thinkers, in my experience. They do like the thought of being detached from the fray, intellectually minded, clear of vision and pure......they aren't.

[Winterblues]

9. I am an Independent and have been my entire life

It is very doubtful I will ever vote Republican but I am certainly not obligated to Democrats either..I do not have to vote at all if I do not like the alternative..You can paint with a broad brush all you wish but it says way more about you than it does those you are painting.. IMO

[frylock]

13. fuckin-a

:applause:

[frylock]

14. i'm an indy, and i follow people like kucinich, nader, camejo, etc..

i prefer to vote on policy, not personality. i don't feel an inherent need to belong to a group, nor do i need to rationalize some of the shitty decisions a particular party makes when it's not in the best interest of myself or the electorate.

[PDJane]

15. Please note, I said that was my experience.

I don't speak for everyone, but that has been my experience. The independents I am most familiar with voted for Bush.

I don't say you have to belong to a party...I don't. However, because of my experience, I identify myself as either a progressive or a socialist. That's OK to say; I live in a socialist democracy, by and large, at least until Mr. Harper gets through changing the landscape.

Of course, the deficit is going up, the country is on the verge of being privatized, and that would include medicare if he could get away with it.

[leftstreet]

2. It's all a big Vote The Bastards Out crapshoot at this point

People are more interested in what's happening today, not how it got to be that way.

[Lerkfish]

3. um, hello? wouldn't the INCUMBENTS be responsible for the catastrophe?

seeing as how they're in office?

I can see your other arguments but that one makes no sense.

[wowimthere]

4. Yes, I'm asking that question. We voted republicans out. Now they want to put the people

we voted out, back in. The media talks anti-incumbency but that only means putting the Republicans back in again. That's what I'm saying.

[Lerkfish]

8. well, you're got quite a crystal ball there

that you arrive at that conclusion with such certainty.

[EFerrari]

11. Our reps have a higher return rate than the Politburo did.

Only a few seats changed hands to swing the majority. We in no sense "cleaned house" when we voted the Republicans out.

[Joe the Liberal]

5. People in this country never ever learn from history and forget far to easily.....

and it plays right into the republicans hand. "Kick the bums out!" they say and replace them with who? The previous bums? The greater of the two evils, the sleaziest of politicians who brought about the mess we find ourselves in? I hate to sound cynical but this is why I doubt this country will ever see any real and lasting change.

[wowimthere]

6. I think you're right... at least where politics is concerned. It's a vicious cycle.

We don't learn the lessons that are practical. Dems don't learn either. It's why healthcare is laying on the third rail. It's why we escalated another war. Certainly if the Republicans or Independents were in charge we might have invaded Iran. Who knows?

[stray cat]

7. Actually its a popular sentiment on DU

[rucky]

10. Independents are the shallowest voters with the most influence.

We need to start divvying voters up into more than just the sheep and the lemmings. Four parties - at the minimum.

[Coyote_Bandit]

12. I'm a progressive

I don't have a party to call my own. Too many Dem leaders have sold out. I'll be damned if I'm going to vote to re-elect some fucker just because of the label he wears. If he doesn't protect or advance my needs and interests then there isn't much difference between throwing his sorry ass out and having it replaced with another idiot that does likewise. The only possible difference is one of degree. I don't accept the argument that I must support the best of two bad - but nonetheless viable - candidates.

[Ardent15]

16. I think that fresh minds...from both parties..are required

But especially the Democrats.