Political Leashes? Cut them loose!

Many know that my husband is running for Mayor of Indianapolis, and many hear our stories from the campaign trail. But something that continues to hurt my heart is the pain that I see in the faces of people that work within the political framework, for one party affiliation or another, or who work in county or city government who feel one way but are stifled or controlled in another, who want to sign, and can't. The following are stories of conversations that describe what we are hearing.

When we approach people to ask if they will sign the petition to get John on the ballot in November (not asking for their vote, just for ballot access), many sign immediately because they are ready for a change. They want something outside of the typical two party options and they are for citizens being called into service to run for office. Yet some have signed only to come back 20 minutes later pleading that we remove any evidence of their names. One person demanded that we remove the name because just the mere presence of the name could jeopardize the office they were running for, with a party, and they were afraid they would be removed from the party slating process. They had signed a multi-page document stating they would only support party candidate, also stating they committed to voting for all party candidates regardless of how they felt about them, and stating that they would sign over their name, likeness, and brand for the party to use, regardless of how they felt about it.

Others have said immediately that they would lose their jobs if they signed the petition, even if they were in favor of a choice on the ballot in November. Signing these petitions does not in any way mean that the signor will vote for John as a candidate. It only implies that they are for voters having a choice. It helps John to culminate the near 6,200 signatures that he needs to get to even be on the ballot. However, some cannot sign for fear of losing their jobs.

Then there are those that are downright rude. On one occasion, John asked a young man, probably in his mid to late 20’s, if he was a Marion County Voter. The young man replied very emphatically, “YES, I sure am!” as if he was extremely proud of the fact. Then when John described that we were getting signatures to get him on the ballot for Mayor as an independent candidate, the young man turned arrogant and rude, dismissed John with a wave of his hand and said, “Move on. I have nothing to say to you.” 

And the final example is when John asked the incumbent to sign the petition, and his response was, "I can't; the party would kill me." 

My point in this blog post is this…if we live in a free country founded on democracy, why does our two-party system control us? Why do people who align with a party feel so controlled and unable to support candidates that they believe in, possibly aligning with, and want to support even if they are not part of their political party? This control, to me, is an unreasonable, and unamerican leash, and it is REAL. It is a process that controls people into believing and aligning with a system that should they depart from it, they will be punished, even losing their livelihood. Is this true democracy? And the freedom that America was founded on? I think our forefathers would be very disappointed.

John Adams said, “There is nothing which I dread so much as a division of the republic into two great parties, each arranged under its leader, and concerting measures in opposition to each other. This, in my humble apprehension, is to be dreaded as the greatest political evil under our Constitution.”