{"id":1451,"date":"2008-09-19T18:48:00","date_gmt":"2008-09-19T23:48:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tameri.com\/wordpress\/autisticme\/?p=1451"},"modified":"2023-11-26T16:34:28","modified_gmt":"2023-11-26T22:34:28","slug":"shame-on-me-an-independent-voter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tameri.com\/autisticme\/2008\/09\/19\/shame-on-me-an-independent-voter\/","title":{"rendered":"Shame on Me? An Independent Voter"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I was informed recently, &#8220;People like you should be progressive Democrats because Republicans don&#8217;t care about people.&#8221; Activists are always blinded by prejudices&#8230; and if you decline to state an affiliation, they assume the &#8220;worst&#8221; and try to save your political soul.<\/p>\n<p>And people wonder why there is so much venom and vitriol in politics?<\/p>\n<p>I know a lot of caring, supportive, and generous people. They come from all walks of life, all geographies, all religious, and all political backgrounds. One slice of America does not have a monopoly on &#8220;caring&#8221; about people like me.<\/p>\n<p>Autism, palsies, seizures, scoliosis, and whatever else might constitute the characteristics of &#8220;me&#8221; are not restricted to a specific population. &#8220;We&#8221; are not a uniform group, whoever we are. If anything, members of the Dramatists Guild or university humanities departments are more uniform in beliefs and biases than other groups to which I belong.<\/p>\n<p>I don&#8217;t want to be told what I should believe. I am not rushing to join a party. (I&#8217;ve joined several over the years to receive their mailings. Does that count?) I like to contemplate quietly, alone, and come to my own decisions. One aspect of my existence does not dictate who I am or to what groups I belong. I define myself&#8230; period.<\/p>\n<p>Most people do care. I&#8217;m not about to judge &#8220;caring&#8221; about others based on political affiliations &#8212; that&#8217;s simply shallow and judgmental. A lot of good people exist, if you&#8217;re willing to move\u00a0beyond stupid labels.<\/p>\n<p>Shame on me&#8230; I like &#8220;Declines to State&#8221; as a party. Just treat me with respect and I&#8217;ll try to do the same.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I was informed recently, &#8220;People like you should be progressive Democrats because Republicans don&#8217;t care about people.&#8221; Activists are always blinded by prejudices&#8230; and if you decline to state an affiliation, they assume the &#8220;worst&#8221; and try to save your political soul. And people wonder why there is so much&#8230;<\/p>\n<div class=\"more-link-wrapper\"><a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tameri.com\/autisticme\/2008\/09\/19\/shame-on-me-an-independent-voter\/\">Continue Reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Shame on Me? An Independent Voter<\/span> <i class=\"fas fa-angle-right\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":4014,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"iawp_total_views":15,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[8,9],"tags":[245,364,413,523,538,557,759],"class_list":["post-1451","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-media","category-news","tag-elections","tag-identity","tag-labels","tag-partisanship","tag-persuasion","tag-politics","tag-voting","entry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Shame on Me? 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And people wonder why there is so much&#8230;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.tameri.com\/autisticme\/2008\/09\/19\/shame-on-me-an-independent-voter\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Autistic Me\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2008-09-19T23:48:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-11-26T22:34:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tameri.com\/autisticme\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2023\/12\/Podcast-HD-1920x1080-comp-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1440&ssl=1\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1440\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Autistic Me\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Autistic Me\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.tameri.com\\\/autisticme\\\/2008\\\/09\\\/19\\\/shame-on-me-an-independent-voter\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.tameri.com\\\/autisticme\\\/2008\\\/09\\\/19\\\/shame-on-me-an-independent-voter\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Autistic Me\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.tameri.com\\\/autisticme\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/94e962a1d7a0c058368d6d8f42669a3a\"},\"headline\":\"Shame on Me? 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