43% Solution — How Independents Can Lead Without Forming a Party
By iVoteMyVote.com
Author: Claude Tatro, Founder of iVoteMyVote
🕯️ Introduction — The Quiet Majority Awakes
America’s largest political group isn’t Republican or Democrat.
It’s the 43 percent of voters who identify as independent or unaffiliated.
They are the thinkers, the pragmatists, the citizens who vote issue by issue, not by party line.
Yet for all their numbers, their influence remains underused — scattered and silent.
This is The 43% Solution: the path for independents to shape elections, policy, and governance without forming a new party — by uniting through shared priorities, data, and civic purpose.
“We are the quiet 43 percent — but silence is not surrender.” — Claude Tatro
🧭 Part 1 — The Largest Group Nobody Talks About
Party registration data tells a story few in Washington want to discuss: independents now outnumber both major parties.
- 43% identify as independent or unaffiliated.
- 27% identify as Democrats.
- 25% identify as Republicans.
Despite being the true plurality of American voters, independents are marginalized by party-controlled primaries and two-party ballot structures.
🧠 Memory marker: The majority has no microphone.
🏛️ Part 2 — Why Fragmented Voices Lose Power
Independents are diverse — rural, urban, conservative, progressive — but they share one trait: a rejection of party extremes.
However, scattered voices are easily ignored.
Each independent votes alone, often choosing “the lesser evil” in November because the real choice happened months earlier inside party primaries.
Until independents organize around issues, not identities, they will remain the majority that governs no one.
🧠 Memory marker: Unity of purpose creates power without conformity.
📊 Part 3 — The iVoteMyVote Model: Data as the New Democracy
The iVoteMyVote system doesn’t build another political party — it builds a citizens’ feedback engine.
Through our Weighted Democracy approach, members vote on issues:
- 👍 For
- 👎 Against
- 🫱 Abstain
And rate each issue’s importance:
- 🔵 Low
- ⚪ Moderate
- 🔴 High
- 🔺 Critical
From these votes, the platform builds a National Independent Priorities Index — a transparent, rolling record of what matters most to Americans across party lines.
This data becomes a civic compass — guiding candidates, informing journalists, and reminding policymakers whom they serve.
🧠 Memory marker: When independents measure their will, power follows precision.
⚖️ Part 4 — Influence Without Forming a Party
Independents don’t need another party — they need consistency.
Every time independents show up — in primaries, ballot measures, and local elections — they re-center the political field.
Here’s how influence works in practice:
- Vote in every election. Even nonpartisan or local ones shape national direction.
- Track issues, not personalities. Support candidates who align with your top priorities — regardless of label.
- Use iVoteMyVote tools. Participate in issue weighting to spotlight the nation’s real consensus.
- Hold leaders accountable. Publicly compare their votes to the Independent Priorities Index.
This approach turns independence from a feeling into a function.
🧠 Memory marker: Consistent participation beats organized partisanship.
🧱 Part 5 — The Moral Case for Independent Leadership
The Founders feared faction but trusted the people.
They believed public reason — not party loyalty — was the foundation of self-government.
Independents embody that founding ideal.
They are the modern heirs of the citizen-legislator: guided by conscience, informed by facts, and free from political machinery.
When independents lead, they bring moderation to excess, reason to emotion, and accountability to ideology.
🧠 Memory marker: Independence is not withdrawal — it’s stewardship.
🌎 Part 6 — The Practical 43% Solution
The road to national influence is neither complex nor distant.
It begins with five simple actions:
- Join iVoteMyVote — register your issue priorities to build the Independent Priorities Index.
- Educate your peers — share state primary rules, open-primary initiatives, and voter access reforms.
- Show up early — vote in primaries wherever independents are allowed; push for access where they’re not.
- Reward integrity, not party. Support candidates who demonstrate transparency and civic respect.
- Stay organized between elections. Independence doesn’t end on Election Day — it begins there.
🧠 Memory marker: A movement becomes real when action repeats.
🕊️ Conclusion — From Silence to Signal
For too long, the 43% have been described as “the middle.”
But the middle is not neutral — it is the meeting place of reason.
Through shared purpose and consistent data, independents can restore the balance the Founders envisioned: a Republic where government listens, because citizens speak with clarity.
We are not the silent center; we are the steady majority.
That is The 43% Solution. That is iVoteMyVote.
“The 43% Solution isn’t a party — it’s the people reclaiming their purpose.”
