Shawn Griffiths
Actor Matthew McConaughey posted a video on YouTube Sunday, in which he had a message for every American voter:: Voting for an independent candidate does not have to be a wasted vote. Instead, it can be a check on the two major parties.
“A great question for our times is, how’s that ‘unwasted’ vote been working out for you?” He says in the video.
Curiously, he said that the point of the video was not about him “right now.” This could lead to speculation that he is preparing to jump into the political arena at some point in the near future, potentially as an independent candidate.
McConaughey has previously left the possibility open. However, as of now, he has not declared his intentions to run for any office.
Instead, he says this is about the upcoming ballot and his endorsement of two things: “Fairness and reality.”
“I believe in a fair fight and a fair fight is not just two fighters throwing the same punches at each other for 50 years,” McConaughey says.”A fair fight is when the fighters who ought to be represented in the fight are actually in the fight.”
He notes that the number one political identity in the US is not Republican or Democrat. It is independent, a statement backed up by polling and voter registration data in states that register voters by party.
McConaughey also makes a point to mention that being independent does not mean being a fence-rider. It does not mean that a person has to be considered “middle-of-the-road” “Independent is the original road,” he says.
Being independent does not mean a person has to be against the parties. It means “taking the best of both,” which McConaughey asserts is not indecision, but judgment.
It is a position not far off from the IVN stance that being independent is a mindset. It is the willingness to accept that there is legitimacy in opposing ideas, and that finding solutions requires a more voter-centric, nuanced approach.
Identify the best policies within both parties, but also be willing to look beyond them for the answers as well. And this approach will not always be the same for every independent voter.
Independent voters can hold different positions, they can disagree, but they think critically. They don't have to be neutral. They don't even have to be "moderate."
“Independents belong in the fight. Not as a protest. Not as a spoiler. But as a real and potential winner on the ballot by us,” McConaughey remarks.
It has been an uphill battle for people who want to run as an independent. The system is designed at every level to elevate two private political organizations. Most elections are decided well before independent candidates even appear on the ballot.
Shawn Griffiths
And, in the few instances in modern history when an independent has made it to Congress or has switched party affiliation, they are expected to “pick a side,” just like voters at the polls.
“The truth is, we don’t know how many independents would vote for a true independent—organized,funded, owned by neither side—because no one has ever given us one,” McConaughey argues.
He points out that the current political environment offers an opportunity that has not always existed for independent candidates. The party split in Congress is so even, particularly in the Senate, that only a few independent candidates are needed to hold both sides accountable.
Put simply, elect 3-5 independent candidates and they will control the majority vote and can, in theory, force Republicans and Democrats to come to the table and compete for the independent vote.
This is colloquially referred to as the “Fulcrum strategy” and is something independent candidates for Senate across the US are making part of their pitch this year. IVN author Matt Shinners has covered these races and candidates extensively.
McConaughey also notes that former US Sen. Joe Manchin and his daughter, Heather, have launched the Independent Leadership Council that he says was “built to recruit, fund, and back true independents for Congress.”
“Joe Manchin knows the math. He lived it. In a 50-50 Senate, one independent mind became the deciding vote and took all the fire for it alone,” he explains. “Now imagine that power held by 3 or 4, together, owned by no party at all.”
It is not a solution that will fix the myriad of systemic problems in US elections. However, those who support this idea believe that it is a mechanism to change how both parties behave in Congress.
And there is a shifting reality to consider. More organizations are forming to provide a foundation on which independent candidates can run that they never had before, whether it is Manchin’s ILC or Paul Rieckhoff’s Independent Veterans of America.
McConaughey closes the video by reminding voters that—in more places than ever—the options on the ballot are not limited to Republicans and Democrats. He doesn’t tell the viewer how to vote, but implores them to examine the candidates and figure out who truly represents them.
And who can be that “check,” not to replace the two parties, but “to keep them honest.”
“America’s brand was never ‘R’ or ‘D,’” he says. “It is independent.”