Letter: America needs independents

A surprising election result is now behind us, or is it really surprising? It confirms American voters desperately want change.

They want officials who tell the truth, stand up to special interests and don’t go to Washington to enrich themselves. They want leaders who care about our country’s future.

Yes, time will tell. It has been said, “A pond stagnates unless fresh water circulates throughout it.”

In May, U.S. News and World Report said, “Now is the right time to disrupt America’s two-party system,” reflecting on a continuation of our government’s malpractice. Both parties’ leaders have not been in tune with their own voter base, displaying a hypocrisy while disenfranchising their constituents. Voters have not left their parties, their parties has left them. A Gallop Poll showed that 43 percent of Americans self-identify as independents.

Independent does not necessarily mean belonging to a third party or sharing a particular political strategy. Independent is simply a single state of mind — putting our country before party, supporting fiscal responsibility and social tolerance, and limiting congressional terms, earmarks, Superpacs, lobbyists and special-interest groups.

I found a common ideology in the 2016 book, “A Declaration of Independents,” by Greg Orman, and recommend you read it. It describes how we can break the dysfunctional, two-party stranglehold and restore the American dream. The ideology of an independent is the ideology of America: common sense together with honesty, integrity, compromise and progress.

We all need to think as an independent.

This story was originally published November 21, 2016 at 8:43 AM with the headline "Letter: America needs independents."