I have always been and always

will be an independent voter... I think.

I've always been adamant about

that, but over the last 20 years Democrats have been pushing me inexorably

into a more partisan position.

Obviously, I've always been

conservative, and therefore have tended to vote Republican more often

than Democratic. But I voted for Jimmy Carter, both as governor and as

president, and I voted for Wyche Fowler and later John Lewis as congressman.

True, both Fowler and Lewis

are far more liberal than I, but their Republican opponents in the years

that I lived in the 5th District simply didn't have what it takes to be

congressman, in my opinion.

And on the local and state

level, I don't know for sure but probably over my 30 years of voting I've

cast as many votes for Democrats as Republicans, perhaps more.

All this to convince you that

when I say I'm independent, I'm not just saying that.

But for the foreseeable future,

I'm seriously considering becoming a straight party voter, at least for

all national posts.

It's not just the events of

the past few weeks, though the Democratic Party during this episode has

certainly shown why the donkey is its symbol.

My Democratic friends, I'm

sure, are aghast that I can't see that the Republicans' behavior has been

just as unseemly as the Democrats'. And I must admit that this has not

been our finest hour as a nation, nor has either major political party

acquitted itself completely.

The difference is that the

Republicans won... twice. I don't fault the Gore campaign for going beyond

that. It was worth a try.

But what's put me off the most

is not that Gore continues to fight on. It's the sanctimonious claptrap

that he and all the party luminaries even Jimmy seem to be able to dish

out in unison. It's almost as if there's some sort of central consciousness

controlling them all... very X File-ish.

"We just want to ensure

that every person's vote counts," they intone, seemingly on the verge

of tears.

If they truly meant that, they'd

be fighting just as hard to get those military votes counted as they are

fighting to get those imaginary pregnant votes counted. And they would

have asked for a recount of all Florida's counties, not just a few.

Their answer to that last is

to point out that the Bush campaign could have asked for a statewide recount,

or even for recounts in heavily Republican counties. But Bush's people

had no reason to ask for a recount. They won... twice.

And I have no problem with

the strategy of waiting until the last minute and then asking for the

hand recount in selected counties. That's just good strategy, and it's

not the point. The point is the hypocrisy, and the degree of affected

sincerity with which they are able to act their parts... all of them.

It's frightening.

It has become clear that nothing

matters to the national Democratic Party but winning at any cost. The

good of the nation is of no concern. Otherwise, now that the vote has

been legally certified, Gore would have conceded so that the business

of transition could proceed.

Numerous other instances stand

out in my mind as I try to find a reason to ever vote for a Democrat for

national office again.

There's Joe Lieberman, ready

to ask for President Clinton's resignation, then suddenly backing down

after a talk with Al Gore, then surprise! Gore's running mate is Lieberman.

There's the way the party rallied

around Clinton, denouncing him for acting immorally, but steadfastly refusing

to acknowledge the perjury that was his crime, not just his sin. Again,

it's the way the party acted in unison that worries me.

There's the systematic dismantling

of the military over the last ten years, and again the acting. Point out

that Bill Clinton has severely reduced our military's ability to carry

out missions in an increasingly dangerous world, and they take to the

microphones with looks of extreme concern on their faces.

To suggest that our military

is weakened is to give comfort to those who would attack our military,

they say, wringing their hands in unison. We still have the best military

in the world, they say, all with an equal measure of confidence.

with you, you wish you had never pointed out that the emperor's wardrobe

is a little lacking.

There's something Orwellian

about a party that's able, through acting, to get people to accept fantasy

as reality.

And nobody in the party...

nobody... breaks rank.