Here I am, a gray-haired, balding retiree checking into Whigs.

Yes, that’s right, Whigs. Not wigs, but Whigs.

And I think I might be one — a Whig, that is.

I’m not sure, yet; but I like what I have been reading about the Modern Whig Party.

David Lightman … observed that “the largest party in America now is ‘no party’ – with the ranks of people calling themselves independents at the highest level in more than 75 years of polling.”

Perhaps the growing no-party Independents, plus centrist-leaning conservatives and liberals should check in at the Modern Whig Party website.

David Lightman, a political writer for McClatchy Newspapers, observed that “the largest party in America now is ‘no party’ — with the ranks of people calling themselves independents at the highest level in more than 75 years of polling.”

He cites a January Gallup report in which 42 percent identified themselves as Independents — compared to 29 percent declared as Democrats and 26 percent who identified as loyal Republicans.

Lightman states that young Americans are the ones who are most indifferent to parties. And he notes a Pew report that found nearly half of millennials identified as Independents in 2014.

“Political parties are seen as too narrowly focused, too interested in keeping incumbents in office,” Lightman observed.

And he cited gerrymandering by the two parties as one of the reasons younger Americans are disgusted with the two-party system – because it maximizes re-electing incumbents.

“Of the House’s 435 seats, 402 incumbents are considered safe bets for re-election this year,” Lightman said, citing a nonpartisan Rothenberg & Gonzales Political Report.

How many times have you wished there was a third political party — one that offered a common sense candidate you could vote for?

How many times did you feel you were simply voting for the best of two bad choices?

Is it time to seriously consider supporting a third party?

I’ve been thinking about that, and I suspect many other folks have been also. But how do we find or organize one worth supporting?

There definitely is a need, according statistics such a those cited by Lightman.

I didn’t know about the Modern Whig Party until I stumbled upon a little news item in November 2013, reporting that a candidate who filed as a Whig was elected a district elections judge in Philadelphia. I wrote a short item back then, calling attention to a “political rarity.”

That news item reported a modern Whig is a fiscal conservative, but a social liberal. I like that.

That fits how I have classified myself on numerous occasions. And I suspect it fits the thinking of many other folks — probably many who call themselves Independents.

The Modern Whigs website explains the idea of reviving the Whig name occurred to a few veterans serving in Iraq and Afghanistan who reported they “were dismayed by their nation’s deepening ideological divide.”

So they first organized in 2007 and officially formed the Modern Whig Party in Washington, D.C., in December of 2009.

The party’s website states:

“The Modern Whig Party is the spearhead of a pragmatic, centrist, solutions-oriented political movement dedicated to the restoration of representative government in our nation. We believe broad citizen participation at all levels of government is necessary for our civic, political and economic lives to thrive, and we are determined to take practical, sensible action to support our fellow Americans in returning control of their government to their hands.”

The party’s platform cites the need for electoral and government reform, and states that “electoral reform lies at the heart of Modern Whig methodology. We believe all citizens have an equal right to be represented in the democratic process and an equivalent duty to participate in it. … We oppose all attempts to limit participation or distort representation. Our current political system unduly restricts political competition and undermines the average citizen’s ability to properly exercise their political rights and duties.”

The Whigs added that they would replace gerrymandering with nonpartisan redistricting. And the electoral reform plank includes a pledge that “no Modern Whig candidate will ever accept donations from corporations, unions or special interest groups.”

The party says its goal “is to build a viable, independent third party on the commitment to social and political service of our fellow citizens. We firmly believe our best hope for ever increasing prosperity, greater security and a fuller realization of the promise our nation represents lies first and foremost in ourselves, rather than in the wealth and power of special interests willing and able to gain political and economic advantages by dividing our people instead of uniting them.”

Other planks in the party’s platform call for reforming taxing and spending policies, energy independence as a part of national security, modernizing infrastructure, the need to address detrimental climate activities, education reform, opposition to all forms of discrimination, and separation of church and state.

The final platform plank states the party’s support for the Second Amendment, and the need to develop a Firearms Responsibility Policy which would provide for universal background checks and mandatory registration of firearms in a shared national database.

That last platform plank may be a bit surprising since the party was organized by veterans. But the details listed in each of the platform sections reveal the party’s continuing emphasis on pragmatism, reasonableness and responsibility.

I applaud the veterans who organized the party and the thoughtfulness put into the party’s platform. If the party maintains its current directions, perhaps it can become a viable choice for voters. And if ever we needed a third party, it surely is now!

I was told the new Whigs have 15,000 registered members nationwide — and growing. Many more might join after reading the details listed in each plank of the party’s platform.

I’m sure that what the party needs now is media attention. Perhaps it will gain a little of that as a result of its national convention scheduled May 21 at the Crowne Plaza at the Indianapolis Airport.

Darrell Berkheimer, who lives in Grass Valley, writes a biweekly column published Saturdays by The Union. Contact him at mtmrnut@yahoo.com.