Officially Unaffiliated

I did it today. I went to visit the Tooele County Courthouse, the office of the county clerk and changed my voter registration to Unaffiliated. It was easy but it was hard. Since last summer I have toyed with the idea of leaving the Republican party as I no longer feel like they align with the my values or beliefs. It actually started nearly 3 years ago when my best friend ran for office here in Tooele and should have easily won but the leadership of the county Republican party was so poor that Jess got beat pretty good. I was devastated. I had worked so hard with him on this campaign and I felt awful for him. It hasn't gotten any better either as the county party put up a nice guy last year for election but again got beat down by the incumbent who deserved to lose as he barely showed up for the election. At least Jess made him work for his victory in 2006.

Under George Bush the Republican party has strayed from its values of less government, lower taxes, more personal responsibility, a strong but limited defense, a foreign policy that keeps our troops home and doesn't become the world's policemen, conservative moral values, less involvement in international organizations, less socialism. I don't want to be associated with what I am seeing now.

I want to be FOR something, not against something. I want to believe in what I am doing, not wondering if my representatives (I'm talking to you Orrin Hatch and you Bob Bennett) have other motives for their non-conservative actions. I want to believe they are doing the best they can but I don't believe that any longer.

I love the Constitution and am willing to do whatever I can to defend it and its principles.

I am not ready to join another party - Democrat, Republican, Constitution, Green, Libertarian, Communist, etc. I am ready to support who I feel best represents my values and refuse to be tied to a label.