From Jesse Shayne at the Independent Voter Network:
Missouri State Representative Keith English recently cut ties with the Democratic Party to become the Show Me State’s only independent legislator. In line with the state’s nickname (which describes the character of Missourians, who are not gullible), he wants to see more transparency in both state and federal politics.
While English is certainly worried that his non-party allegiance will hurt him in his 2016 re-election bid, he is more concerned over the level of hyper-partisanship and the influence of money in politics, and believes that the problems work in tandem with one another. He believes money is the main reason why partisanship has gotten so bad, and it is one of the biggest advantages the Democratic and Republican parties have in elections.
“If you don’t belong to the two-party system, you won’t get elected…You need money to run and both of those parties are putting up millions of dollars every year,” he said.
English fears that the mainstream political parties of the United States no longer accurately represent the interests of their constituents, in both his home state and the nation.
“The lack of leadership in representing the majority of the people has failed,” he said. “As I’ve gotten older and have gotten to see both sides of the spectrum, I believe that the majority of the people in the state, and across the U.S., are more independently-minded; whether they are pro-life or pro-choice, they see both sides.”
Read the full article here.
See previous IPR coverage here.