Dear Editor,

The original U.S. Constitution did not include a party system because George Washington and the father of our country considered "parties to be divisive and harmful to republicanism."

The divisiveness has grown into two major political parties, each entrenched on opposite sides, beholding to contributors and unwilling to moderate or negotiate with the other party.

We always have a party focused on the next election, instead of resolving the hard issues, because of the risk of losing votes, so very little gets accomplished.

It should not require a Pearl Harbor or a 9/11 to get our politicians to set aside their differences and work together to resolve our country's problems.

The short solution to this problem is for all of us to vote out all incumbents from office until an incumbent shows they can resolve the nation's problems by moderation and negotiation.

I do not include President Obama in this declaration because he has shown a willingness to negotiate and moderate on issues; Republicans have not.

This is from a 46-year Republican, up until one week ago, when I changed to independent, out of disgust.

Douglas Dahl, Oakhurst