George Washington once warned our new nation that political parties, while they may answer the will of the people occasionally, are nevertheless "engines" for "cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men... to usurp for themselves the reins of government."

I think that most people can agree that our politicians are bound to the establishment, which is why we can usually expect watered-down reform--and why we can so concede that the wheels of change really do turn slowly. So why do each of us scapegoat either Republicans or Democrats?

I identify as an Independent voter, and have for a little over three years. After growing up in an ultra right-wing, conservative household, I, a questioning 16-year-old at the time, boldly announced to my chagrined parents that I was leaving the Republican Party, a decision I'd reached distinctly after reading "A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hosseini, which showed me that America's relations with the Middle-East are much more nuanced and complicated than our leading warmongers would have us think.

In hindsight, I really was too young to have pledged myself to a party in the first place. As Kyle Kulinski, one of my favorite political commentators in new media, once pointed out, "No kid in human history has ever said, 'What's Chuck Grassley's position on marginal tax rates?'"

Since then, I've gradually come to accept and become more vocal about rights for LGBT- and Muslim-Americans. I am firmly against our imminent need to dedicate ourselves to what I call "offense spending" (because let's face it, our taxes are really going toward offensive rather than defensive undertakings). I am also a feminist who is ashamed of my past in shedding male tears with some of my male counterparts.

Even so, I've never quite made the leap to the other end of the political spectrum enough to dub myself a bonafide Democrat. While I am in favor of universal background checks and more stringent requirements before purchasing a gun, I am not for sweeping gun bans en masse. Furthermore, my experience working in a union-affiliated establishment, in which minimum wage for many workers never increased despite their years of dedication, among other reasons, has made me question the feasibility of a $15 minimum wage. I've never been able to get 100 percent on board with the pro-choice movement especially because of my insistence upon life, most notably in the viability stage of pregnancy.

The point is, the more you learn, the more you reach an impasse in the demonstration of your values. You realize that no party has a special claim on virtue, and rarely is anything black and white. When Republicans in my life demand to know why I support "godless" Democrats who "kill babies," I ask them why they're in favor of our monstrous torture program, or why they never want to provide a little relief for the children of single mothers who chose life, even though the Bible that Republicans hold so dear says not to look down on the fatherless. When Democrats question why I don't blame gun manufacturers for gun violence, I would say to them that blaming gun manufacturers for American obsession with guns makes about as much sense as blaming car manufacturers for American car possession despite alarming rates of auto fatalities.

This upcoming election in November will be my first general election as a person of age – and I still don't know whether I will go to the ballot box or stay at home. Most people would scoff at me for not readily accepting the so-called "lesser of evils," but as someone who can recognize the gray area in nearly all political issues, I firmly believe that candidates need to prove themselves to me rather than expect that I'll just "get in line" and pledge my undying loyalty. That is not democratic. And it certainly isn't fair.

But that is also the virtue of being an Independent. We are able to look at issues from all angles and perspectives and get people to think about them outside of the one-sided rhetoric they hear from certain news outlets. This is, I believe, one of many steps in the journey toward creating a well-informed populace.