Well it’s official, most of my friends and relatives think I’m either crazy or just wrong. About what you might ask. Well it seems my decision to not vote Republican or Democrat this year has gotten everyone to thinking that I’m wasting my vote. My Republican friends want to know how I can turn my back on my party and not vote for McCain. They seem to feel that by not backing McCain I’ve decided to back Obama. My Democrat friends, I don’t really have too many of those, but I have tons of Democrat family members, seem to think the same thing. Some of my Democrat family members don’t understand why I’m a Republican, or so conservative for that matter. So I’ve spent the last few days, since making my decision to vote either Libertarian or Constitution, defending my decision from all would be suitors.
Why have I chosen to vote third party? Well that’s actually a tough question to answer. Until recently I had never even heard of the Libertarian party. In fact I was pretty clueless about the plethora of political parties out there. I was floored when I looked at the various parties in my county alone, and started doing the research on them. For instance Florida has a British Reformed Sectarian Party. Now this guy is a total nut and his party is beyond racist. One of the actual requirements for joining is that you can’t be black. This is right from their website. “As stated in our Constitution and By-laws filed with the Florida Secretary of State, we do not allow Black people to join our party and you also have to be a Christian.” Now what kind of Christian doesn’t like black people? This guy will probably want to move if Obama wins. We also have the American Poor People Party (they don’t have a website), the Boston Tea Party of Florida (they also don’t have a site), and the Possibility Party (their website needs an overhaul). Needless to say I had quite a choice to make.
So on the advice of a friend I took the “Are you a Libertarian” test (I scored a 35, which makes me a moderate Libertarian). Now don’t worry I didn’t base my choice to vote Libertarian on a silly test, I based it solely on the candidate this election. It seems the Libertarian party has gotten themselves an ex-Republican to run on the ticket. After learning this I went to the Bob Barr 2008 website and started reading. Once I was done looking over Mr. Barr’s list of issues I went to several other sites that documented how he’d voted in the past. Now anyone who has read this blog before knows I’m against abortion, and while that may not be my top reason for voting for a person, it is high up there. Mr. Barr has a record of voting conservatively and in favor of life. In addition Mr. Barr voted against this recent bailout mess. In all honesty, his views seem to align nicely with my own in most cases.
Now more informed, I decided to look into another party that caught my attention, the Constitution party. I don’t know much about Dr. Chuck Baldwin, except for what’s on his website. From what I can read he is a pastor, and has a talk radio show in Florida. While I do like his stance on many of the issues on his site, his lack of experience is what bothers me. It is true that Washington does need a change, and it is possible that bringing in an outsider would be good for the country, but I honestly don’t feel that the time is right for that just yet. This country is embroiled in several major arenas at once. On the one hand we have a war and economic issues, which require experience and leadership. On the other hand we have partisan issues, which require someone with more political savvy than usual to solve. While I personally like Chuck Baldwin, and what he stands for, I am worried that someone without any Washington experience will simply get derailed, and that is not what this country needs right now.
It’s at this point that most of my friends and relatives chime in with “Why not just vote Republican or Democrat?” Well to be totally honest I don’t like either politician. I don’t really feel that either one will bring the kind of change this country needs to get back on track. In fact I feel that the recent bailout bill showed that Washington proper is out of touch with the people. In my opinion Washington regulars are living in their own little world secure and separated from the ills that plague this country. This latest vote proved it. Just as Congress was all set to vote yes, the people spoke and flooded their representatives with enough complaints to keep some of them from going along with the corporate welfare program, which would have only stalled the problem.
Do I believe Barr is any different? Yes I do. I’d like to think he left the Republican Party in disgust over the out of control spending, and meddling in other nations, which has begun the breakdown of our way of life. One of the things I most agree with the Libertarian party on is spending. Americans are always being told to keep their debt in check, don’t spend more than you have… Why should the government be any different? Are government standards different because government prints the money? Doesn’t making more money just cheapen the value of the dollar?
In effect I have chosen to expand my horizons. I have chosen to look outside the normal box. Does my vote not count? In my opinion my vote is only wasted if I don’t make use of it. As more and more Americans wake up to the realization that their elected officials either don’t care, or are too busy caring about making money, they too will begin to look elsewhere. My vote will not go to further the pockets of greedy banks, and wall street tycoons. My vote will not go to expand the role of government in our lives, or expand our role oversees. My vote will go to a party I can at least see eye to eye with, in the hopes that maybe they will remember that this is supposed to be government by the people for the people and not government for government.
"Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, and you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost." -- John Quincy Adams
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12 comments:
Bob Barr is a joke
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Barr
It's a wasted vote.
Not any more of a joke than the others. Both McCain and Obama are behind this bailout, which will do nothing more than stall an already huge problem.
Your new boy is a joke.
http://www.tylwythteg.com/enemies/Barr/barr1.html
Ok if you're going to look for the perfect choice for politics, you may as well stay home. You once told me that what we have to choose is the lesser of two evils. Well I'm saying that I've found a third evil, and in my eyes his evil is less than that of the other two. Is he perfect? God no, but as you've also said to me, anyone willing to run for office must have an ego to match. With big egos comes the thought that you are
A.) Better than most.
B.) Deservent of attention.
Does this guy fit the bill? Yes he does. Honestly if I wanted to vote for the person I like best I'd vote for Huckabee, but then I'd be the only one voting.
For someone who preeches constantly about political mud throwing you sure overlooked this one.
"Bob Barr not only knew his wife was going to abort one of their children; he coerced her into doing it AND he paid for it."
Now how exactly do they KNOW that? These kind of discussions are usually done in a room away from the kids and everyone else in the house. Unless Hustler somehow bugged his house they have no way of knowing that he "coerced" his wife into having an abortion.
In a case where there are witnesses then a writer can quote a witness, but in this case it's simply his word against hers.
Which way did it happen? Don't know I wasn't there, but that's alot more honest than stating as fact something you cannot possibly know.
Do some more research. Not only did he KNOW about it...he paid for it. His name on the check. He admits to it. He simply does not admit to condoning it. His reasoning for paying for it is that in marriage...you share bills, insurances, etc. (research his interviews, from his mouth).
Nice spin on it..."I only paid because that was my wife...but I didn't approve"........
AND....he's been in court TWICE for failure to pay child support (so much for pro family)......I'm a liberal that doesn't go around preaching pro family...and I've never missed a child support payment. he missed so much that he had to go to court over it.
All politicians suck....I hope you don't think Barr is really any "different" as you put it.
Oh, and I checked his views and history....he seems to flip flop even more than McCain (if that's possible).
As for voting for a lesser of two evils...I meant voting for someone that you know actually has a chance. By voting for Barr, you contribute to potentially adding votes to the greater of 2 evils.
I think McCain is miles better than picking someone that won't matter.
I'm sure he did know about it. I knew about my ex-girlfriend's abortion, and I also helped pay for it out of some stupid sense of obligation to her. Did I want her to have the abortion? Nope, in fact up to the last minute I pleaded with her to not do it, to simply have the baby and let me raise him or her. But it was her body and her decision alone.
As for shared finances? That is also true. My name is on my wife and my checks, and when she goes out to the store to buy something I wouldn't approve of it still comes from OUR checking account.
My whole complaint with that link you sent and the website as a whole is that they slant truth to fit their desired outcome. At least the Wikipedia link was more honest and straight forward. It didn't seek to add or remove any FACTS, just report them. That second link was a full on leftist website with Republican bashing from start to finish.
Hell they stretched the truth in their intro. "And remember, the Religious Freedom and First Amendment Coalitions do not represent any political party nor do we recommend any political candidate, nor are we involving ourselves in the political process." Um hello when they bash Republicans and ONLY Republicans throughout their site, and show a blatantly anti-Republican at the very top, it’s not too hard to figure out which party they cheer for.
Has Barr flip flopped on the weed issue? Yes but that's to be expected Libertarians don't really believe that government should interfere in those sorts of things, and that government is way too involved in our day to day lives as it is.
Will Barr win any husband or father of the year awards? No probably not. Chalk it up to yet one more politician who upsets his family through his actions. Trust me Frank I don’t think he’s perfect, I don’t think he’s different, but I can vote for him warts and all because in the end I do believe that less government interference and lower taxes overall will fix this economy. I also believe that we need to stop policing the rest of the world and mind our own business. And finally I don’t believe that socialized anything is good for the country. My problem is that my views are in contradiction to both of the major candidates. McCain wants to set up shop in Iraq for as long as possible, and Obama wants to raise taxes and give away everything.
McCain doesn't want to set up shop in Iraq. He just wants to continue having american presence, no different than us being in S. korea and other countries (in a non combant role).
Obama does not want to raise taxes for everyone, actually, under Obama, about 85% of americans will actually see a tax decrease. Obama is also not 100% for socialized health care (http://www.barackobama.com/issues/healthcare/)....don't believe everything you read.
Neither Obama nor McCain are as bad as you think they are.
Oh...and some socialized programs, if carried out properly, are indeed helpful to a countries citizens. As a Christian, I would think that you'd see that. The key here, is that if done right, these programs can be very beneficial.
If done right, but since when do we do things right? Right now our medicare and medicaid systems do nothing more than contribute to the financial problems we have. How many times have you heard of medicare scams, which milk millions from our government?
Right now regular insurance companies use medicare and medicaid standards to determine what is a fair price to pay for services. Do you really feel that the prices charged by hospitals are that fair? We don't need to socialize anything Frank, there are ways to cut costs and ways to get medical prices down, but we don't do it.
Socializing medicine is like giving the hospitals a blank check to spend as they want. Where will that money come from as the price grows and grows over time?
Sure they may lower the cost at the onset, because they know that very soon the time will come when they can resume raping the American people.
You need to really read Obama's plan. You are simply breaking it down to it's simplest denomination and believe that it's nothing but another socialized plan.
As of right now, there is no other canidate that is proposing anything better.
Make Health Insurance Work for People and Businesses - Not Just Insurance and Drug Companies.
Require insurance companies to cover pre-existing conditions so all Americans regardless of their health status or history can get comprehensive benefits at fair and stable premiums.
Create a new Small Business Health Tax Credit to help small businesses provide affordable health insurance to their employees.
Lower costs for businesses by covering a portion of the catastrophic health costs they pay in return for lower premiums for employees.
Prevent insurers from overcharging doctors for their malpractice insurance and invest in proven strategies to reduce preventable medical errors.
Make employer contributions more fair by requiring large employers that do not offer coverage or make a meaningful contribution to the cost of quality health coverage for their employees to contribute a percentage of payroll toward the costs of their employees health care.
Establish a National Health Insurance Exchange with a range of private insurance options as well as a new public plan based on benefits available to members of Congress that will allow individuals and small businesses to buy affordable health coverage.
Ensure everyone who needs it will receive a tax credit for their premiums.
Reduce costs and save a typical American family up to $2,500 as reforms phase in:
Lower drug costs by allowing the importation of safe medicines from other developed countries, increasing the use of generic drugs in public programs and taking on drug companies that block cheaper generic medicines from the market
Require hospitals to collect and report health care cost and quality data
Reduce the costs of catastrophic illnesses for employers and their employees.
Reform the insurance market to increase competition by taking on anticompetitive activity that drives up prices without improving quality of care.
thanks for the poor...billy thing thats awesome
Since either McCain or Obama will be the next president--if you don't vote for either of them then you are in essence voting for the winner of the two.
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