Your Government...My View - Party Bosses Are Losing Their Grip

by Ernie Padgett

What voter registration category, in Florida, had the largest increase over the last ten years? Was it Democrat? Republican? Was it one of the minor parties such as Independent, American, Libertarian?

Answer. None of the above. There is another category of voter registration that has increased more than all the others combined.
Non Party Affiliate (NPA) is the big winner. When I have discussed this with people, a common reaction is "no way."

The next question is why?
I’m sure there are a variety of reasons why a voter wants to be a NPA. Nevertheless, I think there is a common basic reason for this trend. In Florida, almost 20% , one out of every five voters are Non Party Affiliate. Again, the ranks of NPA’s are growing faster than those of Democrats and Republicans combined.

Lets look at the statistics from the Florida elections Division.

In 1998 there were approximately 3.3 million Republicans, 3.7 million Democrats and 1.2 million NPA and minor parties. Ten years later, as of February, 2008, there are 3.9 million Republicans, 4.2, million Democrats and 2.2 million NPA’s and minor parties. Rep. increased 600,000 (18.2%), Dem. increased 500,000 (13.5 %) and NPA’s and minor parties increased 1,000,000 (83.3%).

As of February, 2008, there were 10.3 million registered voters in Florida. Republicans were 37.5% of the total, Democrats 40.7 % and NPA’s and minor parties 21.8%.

If this trend continues, in 10 to 12 years, NPA’s and minor party registration will be approaching 30%. I’ve come to the same conclusion that millions of others have, not only in Florida but throughout the country. Government is deadlocked and problems are becoming one crisis after another. The entrenched partisanship from both the Democrats and Republicans has created far more problems on the state and federal level than it has solved.

Party politics is becoming increasingly counterproductive. Partisan politics is slowly but surely bringing government to the point of failure. Major issues continue to be ignored. Each party blames the other while nothing substantively gets done.

It’s becoming more and more a blame game between the Democrats and Republicans. Far too many of our elected officials want to blame their counterparts in the other party for any and all failures that they (the blamers) helped to create.

It is past time for the party (parties) to be over. Decisions that are made strictly because of party politics always yield less than desirable decisions.

Party politics is the major force that is driving the existing trend of more voters registering NPA instead of Democrat or Republican. This is an encouraging trend, and hopefully this movement will continue. Increasingly, voters will put much more emphasis on a candidates’ position on the issue rather than being concerned if they have a (D) or (R) behind their name.

Hopefully we will soon see more qualified candidates running as Non Party Affiliates for various local, state and federal offices. This will be a breath of fresh air for our stale political environment. Candidates that are elected and go to Tallahassee or Washington are often under tremendous pressure to tow the party line. Their party leadership frequently punishes anyone who decides to think for themselves and tries to be independent. For the offender within the party there will be no committee assignments , no help in getting bills passed, and no help in getting any kind of funding for a legitimate project in that officials district.

Almost every office holder buckles to this party pressure. A few do not.

Our great country was built on strong independent thinking and action by individuals, both voters and office holders. Elected officials should think for themselves and NOT be bossed around by party bosses.