And the third president -- and author of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson, observed: "I never submitted the whole system of my opinions to the creed of any party of men whatever in religion, in philosophy, in politics, or in anything else where I was capable of thinking for myself. Such addiction is the last degradation of a free and moral agent. If I could not go to heaven but with a party, I would not go there at all."  Today, that independent spirit is alive and well, if under-represented in our political debates.  The fact is that 41% of Americans describe themselves as independents -- as opposed to Democrats or Republicans -- according to an April Washington Post/ABC News poll. Independents are the largest and fastest-growing segment of the electorate. Back in 1945, they made up 15%.  Take a look at the growth trends in some of the states where voters register by party.  In Iowa, the first caucus state, the number of registered independents grew 52% between 1990 and 2010.  In New Hampshire, independents can vote in the Republican primary and now make up 42% of the local electorate.  In the pivotal swing state of Florida, the number of independent voters increased more than fivefold since 1990 -- from roughly 430,000 to 2.4 million.  And in California, our nation's largest state, the number of independent voters rose from 1.5 million to more than 3.8 million since 1990.  The two parties would kill to have these kind of recruitment numbers. And the growth of independent voters has occurred precisely as the two parties have become more ideologically polarized than at any time in our recent history.
As we celebrate Independence Day at the start of a long hot campaign season, it is worth remembering that patriotism is not the same thing as partisanship.Our first president, George Washington