By Donald H. Harrison

SAN DIEGO, Calif. — Nancy and I have become so disillusioned with the Democratic party, we
have called up the San Diego County Registrar of Voters and have asked for a form to change our party registration.  I'm 61 and she's 58, and we both have been Democrats since we were old enough to vote.  But no more.  As soon as that form arrives in our mailbox, we'll become independents, or, as they're called here in California, people who "decline to state."

The final straw was the travesty on Tuesday in Connecticut, when the Democratic party there told U.S. Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.) he was not wanted after nearly 18 years service in the Senate, and after swelling Jewish hearts around the country with pride by becoming the first of our faith to be nominated for vice president by a major party.

Lieberman, a man who tries to live by the principles of our faith, was unceremoniously dumped by Democratic primary voters angered because he did not march in lock step with them on the issue of the war in Iraq.  Well, we don't agree with Senator Lieberman on that issue either, but we would allow him to follow his conscience.

When the Iraq War started, Nancy and I were supportive, believing that Saddam Hussein indeed had weapons of mass destruction poised to destroy his enemies in the Middle East, and possibly elsewhere.  When a man as distinguished as then Secretary of State Colin Powell showed what he thought was evidence of those weapons to the United Nations, we were convinced.

Later, of course, the nation learned that those weapons of mass destruction did not exist.   The Bush administration blamed faulty intelligence, but we believed the administration intentionally misled the American people.  That's when we stopped being in favor of the war.

That being said, we also were not in favor of a precipitous pull out from Iraq.  Once American forces were in, even for the wrong reasons, their sudden withdrawal would play into the hands of terrorists who would characterize the withdrawal not as a case of America reversing its course,
based on new evidence, but as a supposed example of the inevitability of the ultimate victory of militant Islamism.  Look how Hamas and Hezbollah had characterized Israel's withdrawals from Gaza and Lebanon respectively.

Concerned both for the United States, which suffered horribly on September 11, 2001,  and for Israel, which is on the front-line against regressive, xenophobic militant Islamism, we believe the United States must stay the course until the Iraqi government is capable of sustaining that country as a secular democracy.

We believe Joe Lieberman is an honest man who shares our goals, even if he sometimes seems for tactical reasons to be friendlier with the Bush administration than we would like.  Having once decided we would be happy to entrust the office of the vice presidency to him—which, as we all know, is only a proverbial "heartbeat from the presidency"— we were more than willing to see Lieberman continued in the Senate.

But the Democratic party has thrown him out—and with his departure, we are leaving too.

As mentioned before, the folly of the Democrats over Lieberman was only one reason for our disillusionment with the party.

In our own state of California, we found ourselves utterly appalled by our two Democratic U.S. Senators, Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein, who as Jews should know better, capitulating to the demand by Christians that we throw out the protections in the U.S. Constitution against one religion being favored in our country over another.

Boxer and Feinstein arranged for the bill nationalizing the Mount Soledad cross in San Diego to be approved by unanimous consent by the U.S. Senate, apparently oblivious to the fact that by enshrining the large cross on public land as a supposed "war memorial" honoring all our fallen military, they have told us Jews and all other non-Christians that we must accept the
cross as our symbol too.

Thankfully, the founders of this nation gave us clear direction on this issue:  The first amendment of the Constitution reads "Congress" (that means you, Senators Feinstein and Boxer) "shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.." Establishing a Christian cross as the symbol of the sacrifice of our honored dead clearly transgresses those simple words.

We believe Senators Boxer and Feinstein chose to turn their back on the doctrine of separation of church and state because they fear Republicans will mobilize Christians who prefer publicly displaying their symbols over the concept that religion is a private matter in which we all should be free to partake without state-sanctioned pressure.

To reiterate what I have said before, we believe the cross is a perfectly appropriate symbol to display on a private mountaintop—such as on the Catholic-operated University of San Diego campus, or the Point Loma Nazarene College campus.  We will respect a cross so located  for what it is: a deeply meaningful symbol of the Christian religion.  But crosses are not symbols for all of us, and they are inappropriate as war memorials.  Better that we should have atop Mount Soledad a large statue of the flag raising atop Mount Suribachi (Iwo Jima) or another monumental sculpture based on a public competition.

As Boxer and Feinstein want to out-Republicans the Republicans, there is little reason for Nancy and me to stick around in the Democratic party.

So what will we do as independents?  We will look for, and support, those candidates whatever their party, or non-party, who favor strict separation of church and state, who understand how important it is to build upon the  diversity in our country, and who, in our opinion, protect the
interests of our fellow Jews and other minority groups in this country.

Whether the threat be a violent one from radical Islam, or a peaceful, cultural one from fundamentalist Christianity, as Jews we want protection to live in peace and to be able to follow the dictates of our own consciences.

If ever a political party stands up for those cherished principles, we'll be happy to sign up.