People who proudly judge each candidate without regard to political party take morally correct steps that lead to failing results. But independent voters: It’s not you, it’s them.

Your common-sense approach to weighing the issues and each candidate’s stance sounds so very right, so very American, so very democratic. However, if the entire system is askew, the results of your vote will follow.

The problem that undermines your moral choices

The two-party system is corrupt. In Congress, the majority party picks the people who serve on committees. That means they not only have at least 50 percent of the vote, they also get to decide whether many of the issues get a vote in the first place.

That’s wrong. But it’s the reason – as things currently stand – you independents do the right thing yet end up with sometimes tragic political results. In the presidency, the House or the Senate, the party in power has a lot of power.

Here’s an example: It’s one week before the election, you’re a Republican who prides himself on your willingness to cross party lines to support a better candidate, and John Doe, the Republican candidate in your district, was just found in bed with a 70-year-old male hooker, an assortment of leather appliances and a feather. Empty heroin packets lay nearby and, worst of all, a text on his cell phone suggests that he doesn’t adamantly oppose all abortions.

Question: Do you vote for John Doe?

Answer: Yes. Yes, you do. In fact, you walk into that voting booth and vote a straight party ticket – Republicans right down the line, including the man with the feather.

It’s appalling, but each American (again, in deference to a corrupt system) must only decide the general direction he wants to see the country to go – and as part of that decision, whether the Democrats or the Republicans go that general direction.

Elect the best candidate in the world if you wish; vote in the underdog who wants nothing more than the best for all Americans, his own reputation be damned. But he’ll probably spend four years on the sub-subcommittee that oversees sewer systems. He’ll submit 180 bills that never see the light of day. He may be the best all-around human being, but no one will know it except the Congressional cafeteria staff.

It’s anathema to walk into a voting booth and blindly check off all Republicans or Democrats. It feels undemocratic. It feels stupid, as if you’re one of the legions of Republican or Democratic sheep.

But in today’s world, it’s the system that works.

© 2016 SmithTakes.com