Day 4 - Change my party registration.
Ok, so I didn't do this one today. But here's my thinking:
I'm a registered Democrat - I don't suppose that's any big surprise. Unlike some other states, my home state does not hold open primaries. If I want to have some say in holding back any local, schoolboard, or county, or statewide GOP Kool Aid drinkers, I have to be able to vote for their own party opposition in primary elections. Granted, this might turn out to be an exercise in degrees. Any 'republican' almost has to be a Kool Aid drinker to get GOP party support in my local area.
The point is, being a registered Democrat isn't really buying me anything. It's certainly not buying me partisan influence with my congressman (as previously described, a Bush rubber stamp), and the GOP in the county where I live is much stronger organizationally than the Democrats.
Changing my registration to Republican wouldn't mean that I'm abandoning my progressive values. Au contraire (see how French that was?). What I want to be able to do is use those values internal to the GOP. Viral marketing of progressive ideas, in other words. I've come to the conclusion that maybe it would be better to be on the inside looking out than vice-versa.
The fact of the matter is, in the past election, on a local level I actually voted straight GOP. No big deal there. Small town local politics tends to be more about generational "Hatfield and McCoy" familial type feuds than Democratic or GOP ideology, anyway.
Note that I haven't pulled the trigger yet. First off, I have to get a day off to go down to the county election board office to change my registration. Secondly, I'm persuadable (go ahead, convince me not to change my registration).
Just think about it, though. If every progressive switched their registration to GOP, what we'd be talking about is some real influence on GOP party direction.
I know, I'm a dreamer.
