Votes should be based on the person, not the party
Voters should not question personal partisan membership, but rather choose individual candidates, based on the issues.
COMMENTARY
Chip Hanna

As this year’s election season comes upon us, it got me considering the all-important question, “What am I?”

Besides the obvious answer of white boy, I ponder where I fit politically. Do I belong to the liberal Democrats, conservative Republicans or crazy Green Party?

Going to a very conservativechurch yet working and serving in an overall liberal denomination, I find myself stuck in the middle. Each side hates the other — not giving each other a chance, not seeing anything good that can come out of the other.

I see the complete opposite: The more and more differentiating opinions, the greater the pool of ideas available to the community. There is nothing wrong with disagreeing with a person that has a different opinion. The problems come when people completely shut down just because of a person’s party affiliation. I have seen this come true in liberal groups where they think that anything President Bush does is flawed simply because he is not a Democrat.

So, here I stand, with my conservative common-sense values in one hand and my liberal human-rights beliefs in the other. Where do I fit? The simple answer is I do not fit in the traditional two-party system, especially if both fight and disagree with each other to the extent to which they are now.

I cannot understand how each party can constantly contradict each other in their views. How can the Democrats criticize the White House when it falls short on preventing Sept. 11,yet not support the administration in continuing the War on Terrorism? There are many contradictions that go vice versa that make it hard to convincingly back just one, and only one party consistently.

I am a middle-of-the-road straight shooter with a compassion for human rights. I know I am not the only one of these, but some people feel the need to conform to one of the two parties come this election season. You don’t have to be blinded by political affiliation, you can be an individual and vote for the person, not the party.

Chip Hanna is a freshman journalism and business major from Boring, Ore. He can be reached at (b.r.hanna@tcu.edu).