As a registered Republican, I have experienced severe cognitive dissonance since Donald Trump became the malignant darling of the GOP. Therefore, when a most helpful Division of Motor Vehicles staffer concluded my visit there for a REAL ID with “Is there anything else we can help you with?” My stunned response was, “What else can you offer?” She then noted one can register to vote, or in my case change one’s party affiliation at the DMV!
Reflecting on Ralph Waldo Emerson’s wise essay on the hazards of the hidebound: “A silly consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do.”
Then, at the DMV, I transitioned from a minority Republican voter affiliation to a plurality nonpartisan designation.
In the primary election, I was pleased to vote for a nonpartisan candidate for the Alaska State House, Walter Featherly. The Alaska Senate Bipartisan Coalition is offered as a beneficial national model in terms of avoiding tribal legislative deadlock. This favorable development is a product of ranked choice voting. We can only hope this election cycle will result in a dominant nonpartisan coalition in the Alaska House of Representatives.
— Steve Tower
Anchorage
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