Why waste your votes this November?

About 230 years ago, our Founding Fathers were knee deep in what we now know as the Revolutionary War, fighting for our nation's independence from England. It was a revolution that forged the greatest form of government ever, a government that was of the people, by the people and for the people.

Today, that government is no longer of, by OR for the people who must live under its laws. We the people are being screwed, time and again, by individuals who are elected BY us, but do not REPRESENT us in Washington, D.C. Instead, these individuals represent and fight only for Big Money, Big Entertainment and Big Government. And in less than three weeks, we will be asked to go to the polls and vote for our representatives in local, state and federal offices.

Most of you will vote the same way you have always voted, basing your decision on who you feel best represents you. Some vote strictly because of party affiliation -- Democrat or Republican -- while others will vote for the best person for the job, regardless of political leaning.

I've been alive for 42 years and had the opportunity to vote in all but one of the last six presidential elections (the exception being 1996, when I moved late in the election cycle and didn't get registered in time to vote). During that time, I voted for the candidate I felt best represented my interests, and I will carry that same qualification with me when I go to the polls on Tuesday, Nov. 4.

And while I won't say here who I WILL vote for this November, I can safely tell you who I WON'T vote for this November:

1. Any Democrat, and

2. Any Republican

I say this because I have found a direct connection between what ails our great nation and the cause. And in each and every incident that I have seen, I have found a common thread: Democrats and Republicans.

Let's face it -- both political parties are going out of their way to tell you how BAD the other candidate's party is, how they're going to raise taxes, hurt the economy, screw up our schools, give tax breaks to the rich -- if you wait long enough, they're going to start running ads blaming the Chicago Cubs' 100-year World Series dry spell on the other party's lack of leadership.

And you want to know something? They're BOTH right.

The Republicans have had a leader in the White House for the last eight years who, to be kind, isn't the brightest bulb in the chandelier. From the needed, but misguided, War on Terror to the inability to respond to disasters like Hurricane Katrina, this is easily the worst Republican-led administration in history.

But before the Democrats start throwing stones in glass houses, let's not forget a Congress that laid out all sorts of promises that they would clean up Washington when they were elected in 2006. To this point, the 100-day agenda they set forth is nearing day 700, and they have not come close to fulfilling the promises made to voters two years ago.

The problem we have, as voters, is that both parties are going to continue to contribute to the stench that is our political system, because the vast majority of Americans are going to vote for representatives of one -- or both -- parties when they go to the polls.

I will be among the exceptions to that rule -- because I will not vote for a single Republican or Democrat when I go to the polls on Nov. 4. I will vote ONLY for third-party and/or independent candidates for each and every office that I possibly can. And if an independent or third-party candidate is not available, I will write myself in as a candidate.

Now the challenge with doing something like this is that I have to do my own research on the independent and third-party candidates that are out there. The mainstream media is such a pathetic lot that it spends much of its time telling us about the two main political parties that it is in bed with (mainly the Democrats, except for the Republican-leaning Fox network) and spends no time informing its readers and/or viewers about the alternative candidates that do exist and are options in almost every state.

But isn't voting strictly independent or third-party a wasted vote, you ask? And I'll answer that with a question of my own -- considering the garbage we now have representing us in Washington, and our desire for true change in the way we are represented in Congress, isn't the wasted vote REALLY the one in which a Republican or Democrat selected?

You want REAL change this November? Are you looking to start a REAL revolution toward true representative governance in our nation's capital? If so, then why waste your votes this November on two political parties who are part of the problem and DO NOT represent real change?