Without polling, it is hard to say what is in the mind of the 4,420 voters who have registered unaffiliated here. Whatever it is, it seems to be growing. Independent voters are 30% of Polk registered voters today, up from 20% ten years ago.

It is not likely a local issue. Partisan ideologies rarely play out in county government. Municipal and school board elections are non-partisan. Both parties open their primaries in N.C. to unaffiliated voters.

Tommy Meltons independent candidacy for the county board&bsp; may make non-partisan elections a topic of conversation here this year. But the trend to independence is clearly national, with 42 million in the U.S., 1.2 million in N.C.

Jacqueline Salit, editor of the Neo-Independent, says independents are simply making a protest. We simply dont like these parties. We dont like what they are doing to our country. George Washington warned us, back in 1796.

When was the last time we faced up to a major national problem? asks Ralph Nader in a recent interview with The Atlantics national correspondent James Fallows. Those running our political system today are consumed by tactics and strategy as the two parties they serve hold increasingly divergent views about the role of government.

Fallows blames Democrats for giving government a bad name unintentionally in the 60s and 70s, and the Republicans for deliberately doing so since the Reagan era.

The problem is that, for all of us, a collapsing public life eventually brings the private sector down with it.

Sen. Evan Bayh called it quits just this week. For some time, I have had a growing conviction that Congress is not operating as it should, he said. There is much too much partisanship and not enough progress. Too much narrow ideology and not enough practical problem solving.

Neither party is ever going to take total control. Perhaps independents can help elect a government that simply works for the United States of America. We need it. JB