What to do about the independents? Both sides need them and no one wants them

[Peacetrain]

I am beginning to have a great deal of sympathy for self identified independents. They are the voters that actually pick who will win any election.

All sides court them.. from the far left to the far right and all parties in between.

But once the indys' tack on..the party..be it Republican, Democratic, Socialist, Communist,Libertarian, Green, Constitutional. Tea Party.. every one of them, then spends the next 2 or 4 years cleaning the independents from their ranks.. they are rinos dinos, corporatist, capitalists, on and on and on.

I will be honest with you.. if the indys's, actually were able to form a party, they would clean all our houses.

So as a die hard Democrat, getting ready to tackle next year.. I will be calling Indy's.. and I know they are going to ask me,, is there a place in the Democratic party for me? How do I answer?

I have been really troubled by this for the last 10 years and more so lately.

I think Democrats on the whole have a much better track record of helping indys.. but as their numbers grown this is something we will all have to address honestly.

[Raine1967]

1. I totally understand what you are saying.

Sometimes it seems as though there are some that would have our party purged. I cannot recall an election won without independents. I still believe that the Dems have something to offer everyone, including the indies.

[Peacetrain]

2. I agree.. of all the parties, the Democrats are by far the biggest tent.

But it is a tough slog sometimes to try and herd cats if you get my drift ;-)

[Bluenorthwest]

3. The 'indies' can not form a Party because of basic lackings

in their alleged world view. Winning their votes is like having a light tapas meal, you still need to fill a whole plate to sustain yourself at some point. If that group had actual principles they spoke for, they might be a Party. If pigs were pilots, they could form an airline.
Independents vote for Republicans, they vote for Democrats. Is there room in the Democratic Party for people who vote for Republicans at times?
I wonder if you apply this same thinking to Third Party voters, or just to part time Republicans? Around here, we have Greens. The 'independents' are like the tea party half the time. Not going to vote Democratic. So what do those of us who don't have Conservative 'indies' do? We have liberal indies and third Party people who will vote D when motivated, as in 08.
The world is not a right wing all white all straight world of monotone. Wining your right wingers could lose all of our 'Green Dogs'. What do you suggest? Should the Party stand for 'whatever suits ya'? Or just nothing at all?

Can you seriously tell me any 'independent' has been turned away? We have no place for you! Please. If they were Democrats, they'd be Democrats. So you are suggesting altering the Party to make them comfortable? How, specifically? How would these magical voters know when 'there is a place for them'? What are the metrics you see them looking for?

[Peacetrain]

4. Of course I have talked to many independents who want to know

what the Democratic Party will do for them. They want their vote to count just like I want mine to count.

That is what we do in an election cycle when we do all that door knocking locally. We are not just talking to registered Democrats..

I am making an observation here.. Everybody goes after them, and then spends the next couple of years trying to get rid of them.

It would be much easier if we could get them into the party.. There is a community aspect to belonging to a party, that indys do not have.

That is my question, as their numbers grow, how do we bring them in?

[Bluenorthwest]

5. some of them are just not joiners.

and the rest are of such great diversity that winning one side loses the other. But in short, no, we have a place for new Democrats, but not for members of other Parties or of no Party. An Independent should not be writing our platforms or voting on them.

[vaberella]

7. You're statements are full of shit! We happen to have principles we stand for.

The parties don't support all our views. And if they were all bloody consistent in where they would stand maybe we could make a decision. So don't sit there speaking for us when you obviously have no clue where we stand or what we stand for.

[vaberella]

6. Yes we are! And you can see why I don't call myself a Democrat or a Republican.

Although politically I lean Dem, since I vote for them in the end. And I don't sign into any of those parties. They're a bit lacking on all fronts.

[Fuddnik]

8. The Democratic Party turned me INTO an Independent.

And a lot of other people that I know also.

I was a lifelong Democrat until 2007.

Never, ever voted for a Republican, and never will. But, that doesn't mean that someone will get my vote by default anymore.