God bless the independent voters!
The pragmatic voter

As a registered independent voter, I found it extremely offensive to be rhetorically spat upon by Jonah Goldberg in his July 25 column "Swing voters don't deserve to decide election." I read three newspapers a day. I do not consider myself uninformed or lazy.

Obviously, he is ignorant of the [steriotypical] if simplistic definition of an independent voter: One who is socially liberal and fiscally conservative.

We are independents not because we are centrist, but because we are pragmatists. In this post-9/11 environment, there is a lot to be said for pragmatism, and our ranks are growing.

I was a registered Democrat until I decided some years ago that I do not need a political party to tell me how to think on various issues. And, I find ideologues of any stripe to be small-minded, dogmatic and offensive, as Goldberg has so amply demonstrated.

The Democratic solution to most problems is to throw taxpayers' money at them and see how much sticks. The Republicans want to deregulate everything and reward their corporate masters.

While Republicans want to legislate our morals and religious beliefs, Democrats wish us to have neither.

A plague on both their houses!

Pamela Holmer

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