Writing in Snow

I am reregistered Nonpartisan

Word count: 540

The reason I registered to vote

I registered to vote because it is my duty and privilege as a citizen of the United State to vote. It is not my duty to affiliate myself with any party, it is only my duty to register and vote. That is the least I can do as a good citizen of the United States of America.

I am registered nonpartisan and do not affiliate myself with any party. I do no donate to parties. I do send letters to politicians concerning the things I think are important. I read two items today, which got me to thinking about the upcoming election, the reasons I vote, and the way I decide who gets my vote.

The first items I found here on writing.com. It is "Invalid Item"   by A Guest Visitor and the author made some very good points about the partisan politics. The second was a letter from the Republic Candidate for Senate in Nevada that asked me for a donation to her campaign.

At this point, you are probably asking yourself “Why would a nonpartisan who doesn’t donate to a political campaign get a letter from a politician asking for a donation?” I would like to know that myself (even though I suspect where they got my name), I would also like to know why the letter from the Republican Senate Candidate said I was a Republican. I include my thoughts and reaction to this letter below.

I am registered nonpartisan for a reason

I am not registered Republican. I am not registered Democrat. I am registered Nonpartisan. I am registered Nonpartisan because partisan politics lead to disunity, hatred, and separation into Them and Us factions. As a nonpartisan, I do not contribute to either party; I do not contribute to any party.

One of the Nevada Senate Candidates or rather the friends of this Candidate have managed to lose my vote through a simple sentence in a letter asking for funds. The letter, from the friends of the Republican Candidate, arrived today (Monday, August 09, 2010). The first sentence in the letter begins “If you’re the Republican I’ve been told you are...” Obviously, someone is lying to this Candidate and her friends because I am not a Republican of any kind.

I realize it is not the Candidate’s fault that I got this letter. The problem is the campaign paid for a list of names from a company that sells names and address to companies and political parties. My name happened to be on the list and no one in the campaign bothered to check the voter registration information. Instead of checking, they simply assumed that everyone on the list they bought was a Republican.

I wonder how many Democrats inadvertently got on that list. Because any Democrat getting a letter like this is going to be much more pissed off then I am. I suspect this letter reveals an endemic in problem in partisan thought, which is if you are on the list you are one of Us rather then one of Them. In addition, it appears to mean that since you are on the list you automatically think like Us instead of thinking like Them or for yourself.