By DAVE HAMRICK
Editor-at-large

I have always been and always will be an independent voter... I think.

I've always been adamant about that, but over the last 20 years Democrats have been pushing me inexorably into a more partisan position.

Obviously, I've always been conservative, and therefore have tended to vote Republican more often than Democratic. But I voted for Jimmy Carter, both as governor and as president, and I voted for Wyche Fowler and later John Lewis as congressman.

True, both Fowler and Lewis are far more liberal than I, but their Republican opponents in the years that I lived in the 5th District simply didn't have what it takes to be congressman, in my opinion.

And on the local and state level, I don't know for sure but probably over my 30 years of voting I've cast as many votes for Democrats as Republicans, perhaps more.

All this to convince you that when I say I'm independent, I'm not just saying that.

But for the foreseeable future, I'm seriously considering becoming a straight party voter, at least for all national posts.

It's not just the events of the past few weeks, though the Democratic Party during this episode has certainly shown why the donkey is its symbol.

My Democratic friends, I'm sure, are aghast that I can't see that the Republicans' behavior has been just as unseemly as the Democrats'. And I must admit that this has not been our finest hour as a nation, nor has either major political party acquitted itself completely.

The difference is that the Republicans won... twice. I don't fault the Gore campaign for going beyond that. It was worth a try.

But what's put me off the most is not that Gore continues to fight on. It's the sanctimonious claptrap that he and all the party luminaries even Jimmy seem to be able to dish out in unison. It's almost as if there's some sort of central consciousness controlling them all... very X File-ish.

"We just want to ensure that every person's vote counts," they intone, seemingly on the verge of tears.

If they truly meant that, they'd be fighting just as hard to get those military votes counted as they are fighting to get those imaginary pregnant votes counted. And they would have asked for a recount of all Florida's counties, not just a few.

Their answer to that last is to point out that the Bush campaign could have asked for a statewide recount, or even for recounts in heavily Republican counties. But Bush's people had no reason to ask for a recount. They won... twice.

And I have no problem with the strategy of waiting until the last minute and then asking for the hand recount in selected counties. That's just good strategy, and it's not the point. The point is the hypocrisy, and the degree of affected sincerity with which they are able to act their parts... all of them. It's frightening.

It has become clear that nothing matters to the national Democratic Party but winning at any cost. The good of the nation is of no concern. Otherwise, now that the vote has been legally certified, Gore would have conceded so that the business of transition could proceed.

Numerous other instances stand out in my mind as I try to find a reason to ever vote for a Democrat for national office again.

There's Joe Lieberman, ready to ask for President Clinton's resignation, then suddenly backing down after a talk with Al Gore, then surprise! Gore's running mate is Lieberman.

There's the way the party rallied around Clinton, denouncing him for acting immorally, but steadfastly refusing to acknowledge the perjury that was his crime, not just his sin. Again, it's the way the party acted in unison that worries me.

There's the systematic dismantling of the military over the last ten years, and again the acting. Point out that Bill Clinton has severely reduced our military's ability to carry out missions in an increasingly dangerous world, and they take to the microphones with looks of extreme concern on their faces.

To suggest that our military is weakened is to give comfort to those who would attack our military, they say, wringing their hands in unison. We still have the best military in the world, they say, all with an equal measure of confidence.

By the time they get through with you, you wish you had never pointed out that the emperor's wardrobe is a little lacking.

There's something Orwellian about a party that's able, through acting, to get people to accept fantasy as reality.

And nobody in the party... nobody... breaks rank.

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