I am writing regarding your recent request. First, I should say that I am not a Democrat. I am a pragmatic liberal and thus am often inclined to vote for your candidates. This has certainly been the case recently due to the giant fuck-up that has been the Bush Administration. But I feel no obligation to the Democratic Party nor to blindly support your candidates. I voted in the Republican Primary in Missouri in 2000 for John McCain because my preferred candidate, Bill Bradley, had already fallen by the wayside. I had every intent of voting for Ralph Nader in the 2000 general election right up until I got into the voting booth and saw “B-U-S-H” in black and white. My vote for Gore, however, ended up being as big a waste as a vote for Nader would have been. While living in Missouri, I consistently voted for Representative Kenny Hulshof (R-MO) and Senator Kit Bond (R-MO) because of what they were able to do for my part of the world.

But I have been there when you needed me. I’ve voted for every Democratic presidential candidate since I was old enough to vote (1989 for those who are counting).When the puritans were trying to take down Bill Clinton in 1998, I voted a straight Democratic ticket to send a message to let the whole witch hunt thing go. I voted a straight ticket again in the 2006 elections to try and stem the Bush madness. I was one of the groundswell of voters that gave you the House and Senate two years ago.

But now, you have asked me to pledge to support the party’s nominee, whoever that might be, in November. I’m afraid that you’ve gone a little to far and I’m going to have to go ahead and decline that request.

The Bush administration has been an unmitigated disaster. There are very few people who would argue with that statement and it is why I helped you gain control of Congress. You told me – no promised me -that if I voted for your candidates that you would stop Bush and Cheney. That you would start to get my country back. What have you done with the Congress? You have not stopped the war as promised. You have not seriously inhibited any of the Bush Administration’s initiatives. You have shown neither courage nor strength as an opposition party and in fact have been as accommodating to Bush as the G.O.P Congress before you.

I know there are lots of excuses for this failure to stem the Bush tide. I’ve heard them all before, but like most people excuses don’t really interest me. Action, resolve, strength, leadership – these are things that interest me. You have shown me none of those qualities. Your party is in a unique situation – the sitting president is wildly unpopular, there is no strong leader in the opposition party and they’ve nominated a septuagenarian who is unpopular amongst their base. Taking over the executive branch should be a cake walk. But rather than grasping that opportunity, you are going to bicker and tear one another apart. You’ve got a former president and vice-presidential candidate, who should be playing the role of wise elders of the party, acting as hatchetmen for one of the candidates. You’re making race and gender the biggest issues of this primary process rather than the issues that Americans really care about. You’re letting Florida (and Michigan) make a mess of yet another presidential election. You, in an incredibly undemocratic process, are going to let a handful of party insiders make a decision that could define a generation.

So, I hope that you will understand when I say no I shan’t pledge to support the nominee. You’ll have my vote if things go the right way. If they don’t, well, I will need to be convinced that your nominee is better for the country than John McCain, a person for whom I have voted once before. If you can’t do that, I still owe Nader a vote.

Sincerely,

A Voter