Why Declaring Yourself 'Independent' is Stupid

Declaring yourself 'independent' is stupid.

Now, this isn't a "you're throwing away your vote" rant. It's about the uselessness of the word itself.

You saying, "I'm independent", tells me absolutely nothing about your political convictions.

I get it. Believe me, I get it. Neither of our two major political parties accurately define you. In fact, perhaps the hypocrisy, inconsistency and corruption downright embarrass you - so much so you wouldn't dare have someone make the mistake of lumping you in with one of...them.

And so, you declare 'independent'. But, that tells me nothing.

Perhaps it's because another term would suffer the same downside. If you claim "libertarian", I might paint you as one who either hates poor people or really likes weed.

But that mistake would be on me - my misunderstanding of the definition of the word.

Whereas, your claim of "independent" offers no definition at all. It communicates nothing. It's entirely useless.

So let's stop using it.