Voting Independent or Not at All

"I'm as mad as hell and I'm not going to take this anymore!" ~ Howard Beale in the movie Network

I'm sending Congress a message that I'm tired of their wasteful spending and I, as a citizen and voter, am not going to take it anymore. In a business, people resign, or are fired, if issues like the recent financial crisis happened on their shift, e.g. Citigroup, and Merrill Lynch. In my opinion, people in elected offices accountable and be voted out for poor performance.

The trouble is that, often, the opposing candidate from a major party is no better. To me, most Democrat and Republican candidates are typically poor in fiscal responsibility, with the choice often being the lesser of two evils. However, this year, I refuse to vote for either the Democrat or Republican candidate. Based on my observations, candidates from major parties have little fiscal restraint, are significantly influenced by lobbying money, and are in the business of getting re-elected, instead of governing well.

This year, I am giving serious consideration to voting for an independent congressional candidate. If there is a viable independent candidate who had demonstrated fiscal responsibility, not accepted lobby money and would vote "no" for bills with earmarks, that candidate would get my vote.

Unfortunately, there probably aren't enough viable independents running in 2008 to make a difference. The challenge is that a significant number of districts would need to have viable independent candidates to cause large enough change to have impact. Perhaps this will happen in 2010, since I don't expect the economic and international situations to be any better by then.

For more on New Beginnings, check back every Sunday for a new segment.

This is not financial advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

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