Jesse A. Schroeder

Interesting statistics regarding US counties that "flipped" this past election: 372 counties flipped, almost half were in the Midwest, and the majority went from Republican to Democrat. Obviously there are many reasons for why an area changes its political color, but this made me think about something Don Miller said back when he visited Ohio Wesleyan.

Don talked about how the swing voter is the person who holds the most power in our system of elections. The candidates spend millions of dollars trying to figure out what swing voters want, how to win their vote, developing programs and initiatives that appeal to swing voters. In contrast, those voters that align themselves with one party for life essentially "put themselves in the pocket of the <insert political party here>." The result is that the party no longer has to work to please these staunchly committed voters, and the party can easily stray from the ideals it once espoused in order to gain the voters in the first place. IMHO, this describes the current Republican party (although I'm no poli-sci major).

That is why I "swung" to Democrat. I felt that they were working harder for my vote, doing more to assure me that the things that were important to me and most Americans really would happen in Washington. And I have no problem "swinging" to another party in the future. Thus is the power of a democrat, multiple-party, political system.