Thinking Arizona
Facts to Inform the Public Discourse
3 Independents Fume Over Political Parties
August 18, 2011
By Anna Consie
Paul Bergelin hadn’t reached his 18th birthday when he concluded the “childish” behavior of Democrats and Republicans wasn’t for him.
He declared himself an independent when he registered to vote for the first time, thereby making himself part of a statewide trend of voters who are choosing not to affiliate with either of the established political parties.
The reasons are varied. What unites Bergelin with two other independents interviewed for this article is an underlying frustration with the two political parties. That and a willingness to express their viewpoints. Two of the three write blogs. And Bergelin, the non-blogger, is quick to emphasize that being an independent isn’t an indicator of indecision.
Instead, he said independent voters “don’t fit into either the Republican or Democrat binary,” by which the potential approaches to whatever issue are reduced to two opposing viewpoints.
The native Phoenician, now a 24-year-old master’s student, finds he tends to lean liberal – but he insists his votes do not routinely favor one party over the other. Instead he seeks out candidates who are willing to reach across the aisle.
“Government is cooperative by nature. I try to vote for someone who is more willing to compromise and work with others,” he said. “Both (parties) have acted like petulant little children.”
It’s a sentiment shared by Dave Coombs, who spells out his ideology in the name of his blog: Moderate Musings.
“The biggest problem I see is that no one can get along anymore,” he said in a telephone interview.
An electronics engineer, Coombs became a registered independent 10 years ago, shortly after President George W. Bush was elected. He switched away from being a Republican after fact checking the President’s policies and speeches.
“You have to keep asking the question ‘why’ until you get to the facts,” he said.
Coombs, who at 52 has been an Arizona resident for nearly two decades, blames the political animosity on the structure of the state’s primaries. “We need to change the way we vote to properly filter candidates in general elections,” he said. “We’re left with only extremists after the primary.”
Dan Starr knows a bit about elections, having once been a Libertarian candidate for the Tucson City Council. He changed his registration to independent after finding the “status quo of the Pima Republican Party too disgusting,” he wrote in an e-mail.
The 59-year-old Tucson native, a music teacher, doesn’t put much faith in the Democrats either. His concerns and hopes are on display at both his blogs, One Man Think Tank and Freedom of Choice.
Although Starr tends to vote Republican, he said he considers himself to be neither left nor right but instead “in favor of people over governments.” He supports the politicians who align as closely as possible with his values, in particular individual rights and limited government. As he described it, he votes for the candidate in some races and against the candidate in others, using his ballot to support those who will “move the bar” in the direction he prefers – regardless of party.
How unaffiliated voters will change state politics remains to be seen but, while they say it in very independent voices, change is what these three want to see.
Anna Consie is a graduate student in journalism at Arizona State University.
