In what should come as no surprise if you’ve followed this space for a while, last Friday I changed my voter registration to Independent (unaffiliated). I did so in person at the Lehigh County Voter Registration Office.

Not a reaction to any single thing. It’s been a slow burn over the past few years. It simply aligns my registration with how I’ve done these jobs for 12 years. The brands, especially at the national level, no longer represent me.

I’m not alone. Surveys show 45% of Americans now identify as Independent. The largest political identification group in the Nation. Among voters under 30? It’s over 50%. Satisfaction with the two parties is at an all time low. Less than 25% for each party. Here in PA many folks remaining in the two parties only do so holding their noses to vote in closed primaries.

Party politics have become a barrier to people talking to each other normally. As human beings. My job now? To protect county services. Focus on the nuts and bolts of local government. Partisanship rancor is a barrier to effectively doing this.

𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗲’𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗻𝗸𝘆 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁. 𝗕𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗺𝗲. 𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘄𝗲 𝘀𝗼 𝗽𝗼𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗶𝘇𝗲𝗱?

It’s structural. By design. Gerrymandering creates districts where politicians have carefully chosen voters. The entire system rewards candidates who engage in performative politics meant to galvanize bases instead of governing for a whole community. And it works. Politics becomes performance art, and governing takes a back seat to signaling.

In my small way, it’s about stepping outside that power structure. Local government works best when decisions are grounded in fact, intentional about institutional responsibility and local needs, not partisan incentives.

We have an absolutely exhausted silent majority in the United States. Folks are tired of politics being treated like a zero sum game while difficult issues that actually impact people’s lives sit unresolved for years.

Our politics have been allowed to rot and it needs a core reset. We’ve had an alarming erosion of constitutional norms. The way our elections work and the incentives shaping candidates are wearing down institutions and weakening the norms that make the system function.

I’ve had this page for over 12 years. Here, we may not always agree on everything. But ya know what? We might also realize there’s a lot we do. I will ALWAYS tell you honestly what I think, not what I think you want to hear. And then hopefully we’ll talk.

𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗼𝗿𝗴𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘇𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗱𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗴𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝘁𝗼 𝗮𝗱𝗱𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀: