Time for non-partisan presidential elections

It has been a long time since the United States felt like it was truly one country, much less a nation united behind one leader. With the possible exception of the months following 9/11, it’s hard to remember when a majority of us felt like things were headed in the right direction, that we were reasonably safe and were respected around the world.

As we begin a new year, America is undeniably divided, angry, uneasy, scared and desperate for someone — anyone — to provide answers to the questions we have been asking ourselves for what seems like decades. Questions like “Why do I have to work two jobs just to support my family?” “Why do I never have enough time for my kids?,” “When will I feel like I’ve caught up?,” “When I will feel safe again?,” and “Will I be able to afford to send my kids to college?”

Regardless of which side of the political spectrum you reside on, I think it’s obvious that we need a president who will bring us all closer together. A president who not only makes decisions based on what is best for the entire nation, but who has a rationale for making them that is not based on what his or her political party wants them to say.

That’s why it is long past time to make the presidential campaign non-partisan.

Just imagine — a wide-open contest with candidates who are finally free to express their personal views and not be tied to either party’s platform. Primaries and caucuses would start in January and include all candidates, with no party endorsements allowed.

After these contests were over in the summer, the top two vote-getters for the year would end up running against each other in November. No more meaningless party conventions — just two campaigns that would face off in the fall.

Think of it. It could be the very end of partisan politics at the presidential level that we have been hoping for — and maybe, just maybe — the beginning of the end of our dysfunctional and corrupt two-party system in Congress and in state houses across America.

It’s worth a shot, and it would be a start of a new era in American politics.