LemhiWeb

I am and have been for most of my life and Independent voter.  Sure-I admit that I have not voted for a Republican Presidential candidate for quite a few years. However, I am not truly a Democrat at heart either.

The first three Presidents (Washington, Adams, and Jefferson) were suspicious of and flatly against the formation of and control by political parties in American politics.   Time is proving them to have been so very right.  Lately most of the political problems in this country, in my opinion, can be traced to the two parties putting party loyalty and dogma ahead of compromise and common sense.  Americans can solve almost any problem up to and until we become galvanized to inaction by political theatre.  Anybody seen that happening here lately???

Almost nobody will deny that our current President (a Democrat) represents a political position on the fairly liberal side of things. Few (except the lunatic fringe) will deny that he is a good man and has the best interests of the Country at heart.  And even fewer will say that he has been among our Country’s most effective Presidents in his first term (though whether that is entirely his fault can surely be debated).

So, as the Presidential elections draw near, wouldn’t it be a really good idea to see if we can find someone else that could be more effective; or as an alternative, find a way to allow him to become more effective if elected to a second term? 

Sure it would. So instead, the Republicans are trying to find the biggest and most reactionary wing-nut they can find to run for the office (I’m thinking Sarah is waiting patiently in the wings to be summoned in the event they can’t agree on who that might be).

And the Democrats, of course, also avidly hope the President’s Republican opponent will be a lunatic because he/she will be unelectable and the status quo (as bad as it is) will prevail.

There must be a middle ground out there somewhere. One of them, at least, is Republican and a Presidential candidate. His name is Jon Huntsman.  Huntsman is a Westerner, former Governor of Utah, and former Ambassador to China.   He is surely far and away more qualified to be President than any of the other Republican candidates currently in the race.  He understands the issues of the Western United States, he is smart, and yet still fairly conservative!

However, Huntsman had gotten almost no attention and support in the Republican wing-nut derby. He is too moderate, too thoughtful, and certainly not nutty enough for the folks currently pulling the Republican Party’s strings.

Heaven forbid that the Republicans could nominate someone, like Huntsman, who folks like me (a moderate and not necessarily in favor of four more years of the status quo) could possibly vote for!!!  It has also recently been suggested (listen up you Democrats) that he might be a crackerjack vice president, on the ticket with President Obama.

Just today, I read about another alternative.   It is called Americans Elect,  www.americanselect.org.  Americans Elect is seeking to harness the power of the internet to give us an alternative choice; somewhere between the liberal-conservative, and the Republican-Democrat choices we normally get. They claim to be halfway to having enough signatures to get such a non-partisan ticket on the National ballot in all 50 states.  Check it out!!!  Maybe, just maybe, this could be the start of something better?