United Liberty
There Is No Libertarian Case For Mitt Romney
Mon, 10/01/2012 - 5:10pm | posted by Doug Mataconis
Stephen Green, PJMedia’s Vodkapundit, came out this morning with a post putting forward a libertarian case for Mitt Romney. I’ve seen several other people try to attempt to make this argument in the last several weeks, but they’ve all been conservatives trying to convince libertarians why they absolutely must vote for Mitt Romney rather than Gary Johnson on November 6th. Inevitably, those arguments, whether in the form of a blog post or a conversation on Twitter or Facebook end up devolving into the same ridicule and condescension one typically hears from conservatives directed at libertarians. A vote for Gary Johnson, they say, is a vote for Barack Obama, for example. Another common theme is to point out that the Libertarian Party doesn’t exactly have a record of electoral success, a fact which I concede but which I find completely irrelevant to the question of who I should consider voting for and why. They call you a Paulbot too, even though I was an enthusiastic backer of Governor Johnson’s bid for the Republican nomination and had pretty much had my fill of the Ron Paul movement way back in 2007. On the whole, the conservative argument to libertarians regarding the 2012 election has been dismissive, insulting, and based more on the false assumption that we want to be loyal Republicans. I’ve really grown quick sick of it, to be honest.
I consider Stephen’s argument to be different from those, however. For one thing, he’s ostensibly one of us, a blogger who has described himself as libertarian leaning for years and who has taken positions on issues that would certainly be at odds with what many would consider to be conservative orthodoxy. He’s also someone I’ve been reading since long before I ever started blogging myself way back in 2005 and I’ve always respected his opinions even when I’ve disagreed with them in some manner. So, I figured that if a fellow libertarian was making an argument in favor of voting for Mitt Romney, it was worthy of consideration. After reading the whole piece, though, I’ve got to say I find myself unpersuaded.
Let’s start with an argument that many of you will find familiar:
“Liberaltarians,” remember them? I’m not sure even if their charter member, Will Wilkinson, is still using the word. If you don’t remember, the Liberaltarians were hipper-than-thou libertarians who fell for Obama’s promise to protect civil liberties and cut the deficit in half, and if there are any of these people left after four years, they must be neck-deep in the Kool-Aid. Every policy we hated from George W. Bush, Obama has doubled down on, big-time.
See, those promises were just things Obama said to separate himself from the despised Chimpy McBushHitler. Fact is, Obama is fundamentally opposed to liberty, and he’s fundamentally opposed to the limitations placed on the federal government, and especially to the limitations placed on the executive branch.
I believe this makes Barack Obama a uniquely dangerous figure in American political history.
We have a younger Obama on tape, saying that welfare recipients and “the working poor” are a “majority coalition.” And don’t fool yourself into thinking that by “welfare recipients” he just means the huddled masses getting their “Obama bucks” and food stamp billions and disability checks. Under Obama, Wall Street is a welfare queen, too. So is our banking system. Half our domestic auto industry is on the take, too. Obama has gutted work requirements for individual welfare recipients, and gutted the profit requirement for big business and big banking and big finance.
The masses won’t give up their checks, and the crony capitalists won’t suffer any competition. The squeeze is on, and you’re in the middle of it. That’s the Permanent Progressive Majority.
This squeeze fundamentally transforms what America means, and what it means to be an American — from citizen to subject. It took a century to take us this far along the Progressive path to a Technocratic State of high-tech feudalism, but we’re almost at the end of the line. Another four years is probably all that’s needed to get there.
I find little to disagree with here. With some minor exceptions, such as the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and the mission that led to the death of Osama bin Laden, I consider much of President Obama’s Presidency to date to have been a disaster. Despite the fact that he was elected largely because the economy had crashed under the Presidency of George W. Bush, Obama did little to actually address the problems facing the nation. Instead, he championed an $800 billion “stimulus” bill that was packed full of Democratic Party pet projects. So, it wasn’t a surprise when we discovered a year later that the “stimulus” hadn’t really worked, and that we find ourselves four years later with an economy that is barely growing and a job market that remains incredibly weak. This is, as several analysts have said, the worst “recovery” since the end of World War II and, while I agree that there is much about the economy that is beyond the control of the President, the problem is that Obama didn’t even make a serious effort to revive the economy beyond engaging in the same failed Keynesianism that Democrats have become famous for.
In addition to failing on the economy, the President also vastly increased the power of the Federal Government with a far reaching health care plan that, if preserved, would create an entirely new entitlement program that would drain Federal dollars. Internationally, he foolishly expanded the scope of the war in Afghanistan, a decision that has done little but result in the death of another thousand American soldiers for no good reason. He has expanded an assassination by drone program far beyond that contemplated by President Bush, including authorizing the assassination of an American citizen without due process and without judicial review. He committed American armed forces to a military engagement in Libya without seeking the authorization of Congress, something even George W. Bush didn’t do. And, he’s refused any entreaties to investigate the excesses of the Bush Era War On Terror.
These are all very good reasons to vote against Barack Obama. There’s just one problem. I already plan to vote against Barack Obama.
The one thing that the Romney supporters I’ve talked to, as civilly as possible of course, have been unable to provide me with is a reason to vote for Mitt Romney.When I ask for such a reason, the response usually boils down to some variation of “Barack Obama is a bad man.” Okay, let’s say I accept that, the fact is that Mitt Romney isn’t the only not-Obama on the ballot here in Virginia, and Gary Johnson is far more allied with my values and beliefs than Romney is. So, why should I vote for Romney?
Here’s Stephen’s argument:
So is Mitt Romney the man to save us?
Well… no.
But he can buy us time.
We’re libertarians, big-L and small, and so we know what it means to be the tiniest of minorities. We lose, because we don’t deliver the goods to our constituents, nor do we want to. The very idea appalls us. But the high-speed gravy train is beginning to derail. We’re sitting on $16,000,000,000,000 of existing debt, we’re adding another trillion every 12 months, entitlements are exploding, our job-creation machine has been broken, and when that train derails it’s going to take the nation with it.
(…)
What we need is breathing room, a chance to get the economy growing again, to get people back to work again. It’s no coincidence that when we reformed welfare, it was during an economic boom. Wealth papers over lots of differences, and allows people to get things done. And there’s lots that needs doing. We can start by repealing ObamaCare, repealing Dodd-Frank, and just generally undoing the last four years. These are things Romney has promised to do.
Will he do it? I hope so, and if he wins it will be our job to ride him and ride him hard to live up to those promises. What I do know for certain is that Romney isn’t Obama Lite, despite what you might think. Romney won’t dial back Washington to 18% of our GDP. But he might get it down to 20%, which, believe it or not, is a big — and absolutely necessary — improvement.
We’ll see no such improvement from a second Obama administration, which aims to ramp up Washington to something like 110% of our economy.
Unless I’m misreading it, this seems to boil down to an argument that libertarians should vote for Mitt Romney because he will delay the inevitable by a couple of years and we can hope that he, and whatever kind of Congress we have in 2013, will actually do something that will start to pull us back from the brink. This isn’t a bad argument, but it’s not exactly a great one either. It basically boils down a campaign slogan that says “Mitt Romney: He sucks a little less than the other guy.”
I suppose that will be enough for some people, but it certainly isn’t inspiring, and it requires a heck of a lot of faith in a Republican Party that has been nothing but a disappointment for far longer than I can remember. After all, the last time we had Republicans in charge of the Executive and Legislative Branches, we ended up with a trillion dollar unfunded entitlement, a massive increase in the Federal education bureaucracy, and two wars that we not only didn’t pay for but which coincided with tax cuts which is about the fiscally dumbest thing you can do. We also, of course, ended up with massive erosion of civil liberties in the name of the “War On Terror,” and people being tortured in America’s name. Given that record, why should I think that a Romney Administration would be any more palatable to libertarians, or that it would take any real steps toward reducing the size, scope, and power of government?
If the record of the GOP weren’t enough, there’s also Mitt Romney’s record itself. Up until he decided that he wanted to run for President, Romney was the prototypical Northeastern Republican, moderate on social issues, mostly fiscally conservative, but also willing to consider programs like the Massachusetts health care program, which was the prototype for ObamaCare. What assurance do we have that he wouldn’t change his mind again once he became President, especially if it meant that it would help enhance his re-election prospects? I understand that political leaders need to be flexible at times, but when I run into someone who has changed their political beliefs more than once for obvious political advantage, I really have to wonder if I can trust them.
I’m not going to tell other libertarians how they should vote. Some have made the decision that defeating President Obama is their top priority and I can understand that. Others, like me, are sick of choosing between the lesser of two evils and seeing the person you voted for leading the nation further down the road to calamity. Some, like Kevin Boyd, are suggesting that not voting for President at all is the way to go. You can all choose for yourselves. For me, though, I have yet to hear a persuasive case for any libertarian to support Mitt Romney, which is why I will be voting for Gary Johnson.
THINK YOU FOR GOT ONE MAIN THING… HES NOT A COMMUNIST/FASCIST/MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD USURPER/ LETS GET REAL, WHATEVER MITTS FLAWS, HE WOULD NEVER INTENTIONALLY DESTROY OUR COUNTRY, OR US!!! CONSIDERING OBAMS LAWS AGAINST US, AND HIS MUSLIM TIES.. BLATANT DISRESPECT OF OUR CONSTITUTION!!! THERE IS NO BETTER REASON, THAN MITT IS STILL ONE OF US, AN AMERICAN THAT LOVES THIS COUNTRY, NOT A TRAITOR!!! PERIOD. WISE UP!!!
If the only argument you have to vote for Mitt Romney is based upon batshit crazy conspiracy theories promoted by birthers and the other dredges of the Tea Party movement, please just stay home and castrate yourself.
XD
You’re the batshit crazy one. The things you call “conspiracy theories” are FACTS!!!! Watch 2016: Obama’s America, and become educated on the subject.
Give me a break, that 2016 movie is Council on Foreign Relations “Vote Republican” propaganda. Yeah, Obama sucks ass. But so does Mitt and you’re a fool if you fall for the GOP’s crap again. This article pointed out pretty clearly that they continually lie and grow government and government spending and there’s no reason to trust a word they say. I’ll be voting for someone with some principles, not a pandering liar like Romney who hasn’t held a consistent principle in his life.
Gary Johnson 2012
/sarc?
Voting is the one guaranteed opportunity to have a say in the operation of our government, and if we vote based on our fears, we have sacrificed our fundamental right as Americans. How can we expect a politician elected out of fear to protect our rights when we voluntarily chose not to exercise them to elect him in the first place?
very well put. thank you.
Justice, liberty & freedom are fundamental rights as Americans. My passion to exercise these rights through voting in my youth, educating fellow Americans through awareness & numerous ways during the last 20 yrs-included no basis of fear. I do fear for people that beleive voting protects and upholds the rights of Americans that have already been greatly comprimised. So to make a statement such as, “Voting is the one guaranteed opportunity to have a say in the operation of our government”, is not a political opinion. It’s simply not true.
Dumbass. Dictators are elected off of fear. Hitler was. Romney and Obama are both traitors to America.
Wow….Hitler was elected because of fear? I think you need to go back to High School and retake World History. Hitler was not voted in because of fear. Hitler, at the time, was the best choice for the German people. Hitler was a true Nationalist and a lover of his country. It was Himler and Gherbels who were the driving factor for his war on the Jewish community. Learn your history before you try using it to your advantage.
You should probably figure out how to spell “Goebbels” if you’re going to be lecturing people to learn their history, otherwise you’ll sound like a complete putz.
“Blatant disrespect to our constitution?” How about Romney has no intention of repealing the patriot act. I think that in itself speaks volumes.
Mitt could score some points by saying he will abolish the hated TSA, or at least stop the groping perverts and the naked body scanners. Who would oppose that? And what is the downside to saying such gross abuses should be stopped? But no, Mitt won’t say anything like that, for fear he would be seen as soft on the War On Terror.
Mitt has no intention of cutting even ONE DOLLAR from total federal spending. I will bet anyone dinner, or a Silver Eagle, that Mitt’s first budget will be bigger than Obama’s last one. Any takers?
Right. Mittens is such an American hero that he went to France to avoid serving in the military during the Vietnam conflict. I wouldn’t vote for him as dogcatcher. Vote for Gary Johnson.
Neither is Obama
Romney and The Republicans are the lowest life form on this planet
One further point you might have made is that your vote has a vanishingly small chance of affecting the electoral outcome. No Presidential election has ever been won by a single vote, or even by as little as a hundred votes. Arguably your vote for Gary Johnson, while its effect will be small, will have a larger effect than a vote for Romney, since it will increase by one Johnson’s vote total and thus very slightly increase the incentives for both Republicans and Democrats to try to find ways of attracting libertarians.
And if it has no effect, then the only good reason to vote is that you enjoy doing it, and most libertarians would enjoy voting for Gary Johnson considerably more than voting for Mitt Romney.
The Big L Libertarians did not vote for Obama… they bit their tongues and voted for a turkey of ex-neocon who had lied his way into getting the Libertarian Party Nomination.
Well the Barr fiasco is over and this time we have for all appearances have a former governor who’s actions had libertarian leanings too them long before he switched his party from Republican to Libertarian.
I am going again vote Libertarian and enjoy not having to bite my tongue when I do so. I am voting Gary Johnson for President.
Voting for Gary Johnson is an exercise in masturbation. Why not just do it at home?
With absentee ballots, you can do both at home.
At the same time ;)
Ah, and the scorn and disdain started on the FIFTH comment, not the first. Maybe something’s changing. Such distain is predicated upon the typical Republican assumption that they are *entitled* to libertarians’ votes.
Does Obama suck? Yes.
Does McCain suck as much? Yes. And possibly worse, since the Republicans would rally around him no matter what.
r. 2
Does Obama suck? Oh, God Yes.
Does Romney suck? Yeah, but not as bad.
Does Johnson suck? Actually, no. Johnson’s goofy, but utterly fails to suck.
Pulling the lever for number three isn’t “costing” Romney a vote — it was never his to begin with. And if Republicans would like to get a few more of those l and L votes, MAYBE gratuitous displays of public condescension aren’t how to do it.
Thank you! “Pulling the lever for [a third party candidate] isn’t ‘costing’ Romney a vote — it was never his to begin with.”
Exactly that. Romney has ZERO chance of getting my vote. Obama has ZERO chance of getting my vote. It was Ron Paul’s, now it’s Johnson’s, but *MY* principles won’t let me vote for Romney or Obama. If there was no third choice, I would choose not to vote at all rather than vote for one of them.
Great article. It’s unbelievable to me that republicans want to fight for things like smaller government, yet you know damn well they’ll never do anything about it. They’ll just funnel your tax dollars in to programs THEY support.
If you want some real change, quit beating around the bush and making up excuses for the 2 party system and vote for Gary Johnson.
Gary Johnson’s pro-choice stance is the only thing keeping me from being able to fully support him. I’m still not sure who I will vote for, except it won’t be Obama.
You know Romney is too, right
Why? Most Libertarians believe these types of issues should be left to the states, so the personal opinion of the President is even less relevant than it is right now (hint: the Executive branch doesn’t pass laws, so even now it’s mostly irrelevant how the President feels).
You can’t be for total personal freedom and add a caveat, sorry it doesn’t work that way.
The Republicans are screaming, “Anyone but Obama.” Libertarians battle cry is “Anyone but Romney AND Obama.”
I’ve taken a lot of flack about my Libertarian choice, and just this morning I posted my feelings on the subject. It went something like this:
Stop trying to sell me on Romney OR Obama. My mind is made up. And stop telling me my vote is “wasted” on Gary Johnson.
Our country is at a critical turning point and more of the same from either party is our downfall. No matter which of these two get in - we are sunk. You can’t sell me on Mitt any more than they can sell me on Obama. Without the biased media, partisan politics you Romney supporters would make a better decision on whom you would vote for and you know it. Justifying your Romney choice by saying, “he’s the lesser of the evils,” is still a vote for EVIL or don’t you get that? When the country caves in from an economic failure remember you could have made a difference but you chose not to. I’m voting for the only man who has ever held public office who HAS balanced a budget, who HAS cut taxes 14 times, who HAS cut welfare 30%, who HAS helped create jobs, who HAS cut gov’t growth and spending 50% and turned a 300 million dollar deficit into a billion dollar surplus in 8 years in a state with just over 2 million people. Imagine what he could do for us as a nation with 300+ million people? You can never say that about Romney as Gov’r of Massachusetts, or Obama as President - simply they don’t have that kind of histor or track record to talk about. THAT IS BASED ON FACT.
So go ahead and criticize me for “wasting” my vote, but on Nov 6th I’ll be among the very few who cast my vote on facts, not rhetoric, wishes and hopes. My conscience is clean. If you are not part of the solution - you are part of the problem. If our economy implodes - I blame all of you who voted Rep. or Dem in this election for “wasting” YOUR vote. At least at the end of the day I can validate my choice as an intelligent, informed decision based on all of three of these candidate’s past performance in public office. Telling me to ‘stay home and not vote,’ because I don’t agree with you is not your call - it’s my right to vote and I will vote for whomever I choose!
I completely agree with this. This is exactly how I feel. You couldn’t have said it better. Gary Johnson 2012!!!!!
I feel the same way as well. We need someone who is going to address the deficit now and someone who will also cut spending, unlike Obama and Romney. Gary Johnson is the clear cut person to vote for. In 2013 he promises to submit a balanced budget plan to Congress and when(if) he gets elected he plans to get rid of the 1.4 trillion dollar deficit. If you would listen to Romney’s stand points you would see that he wants to spend trillions, even though, he may not actually say it- the two dominant parties usually say what the Americans want to hear and may not address anything else unless asked, and even then they love to beat around the bush.- He wants to spend more on the military. So, how can you even begin to try and cut the debt if you have nothing planned to deal with the deficit? He sure isn’t going to help this nation at all, after all, you can’t save trillions of dollars while spending trillions at the same time. Gary Johnson 2012!!!
You should really hop on Gary Johnson’s board. With people like you, he would be hard to stop.
Mitt Romney understands business, which is the fundamental underpinning of what America is. Obama does not.
Foreign policy, immigration, social issues..these things matter differently, to different degrees, to different people. Libertarians are not united on any of these issues. The one thing we are united in is the importance of the free market, and how free enterprise is and always will be the key to our greatness. Obamacare will drowned business, and a vote for Gary Johnson will ensure that inevitability, plain and simple.
“Mitt Romney understands business, which is the fundamental underpinning of what America is.”
I don’t get why people say this. A Nation isn’t a business. They are two very different things, and the only aspects that they share are that they both require the management of resources. Government manages money (in theory), and businesses manage money. That’s the only difference between the two. To say that Romney understands business, so this qualifies him to be President is to say that Romney can balance budgets, so this qualifies him to be President (since resource management is the only thing they share). To that end, my grandmother is *excellent* at managing her money—this qualifies her to be President? The owner of the gas station down the street is excellent at managing his gas station—this qualifies him to be President?
The United States of America isn’t a corporation; it isn’t even *like* a corporation. The idea that a Government is like a Business is what brought us to this bloated, oversized monstrosity we call Government today.
I too will be voting for Johnson and have convinced others to listen to his message. Once they hear what he stands for they have decided to vote for Governor Johnson. You are right when you said one vote can’t change an election, but Gary Johnson’s numbers are growing every single day.
I agree completely with being tired of just picking the least worst guy out there. I’m tired of getting the same thing just different color ties.
Romney will not cut Washington down to 20% of GDP (that would be like cutting government almost in half). Romney will only marginally reduce government; Mitt said he isn’t going to touch entitlement spending, he wants more money for the military, and he doesn’t want to cut taxes for the rich. Basically Romney is another big government guy and he will not fix our problems. No Libertarian should vote for Romney simply because he isn’t President Obama. I will vote for Gary Johnson and sleep fine at night.
Mitt gets in, and we have the same budget deficits, probably worse, and far less civil rights especially for women and gays. Obama gets in and we have more civil rights but the same damn problems economically speaking, which is tied with my concerns about the growing police state in this nation as my biggest issues. Everything else takes second place. Gary Johnson has proved that government is the PROBLEM behind our economy, not the solution. Furthermore we need not be emancipated BY the State, but rather FROM the State.
Protest groups are being considered terrorists, instead of being lauded for exercising the american spirit they are being arrested and suppressed with riot police. Is free market capitalism the best economic system? Certainly not! But state socialism and fascism such as are developing are assuredly worse and more freedom limiting. Anarcho-syndicalism is the only good economic system, but humanity hasn’t reached that level of evolutionary development yet.
Obama isn’t going to give you any more civil liberties. He won’t even talk about them unless it’s an election year (it took him four years just to address gay voters again).
@Jonathon, Gary Johnson has been endorsed by the national Right to Life organization. However I don’t see how it matters. Anyone that would vote Republican over libertarian on the sole issue of abortion has no idea what being a libertarian means! A libertarian stands for personal freedom! That means the freedom to choose, the freedom to marry the one you love, the freedom to protest unfair and unjust treatment, the right to due process in court and habeas corpus. People voting out of religious “conviction” and emotion instead of based on facts and logic are the reason we’re doomed as a nation and as a society if we don’t change.
“Religious conviction” is a funny way to describe someone’s aversion to murder. But as someone above pointed out, Libertarians claim that the states should handle this matter — so the personal opinion of the President shouldn’t be a driving concern.
I, like many others on this page, have been through hell and back trying to get people to realize a vote for Romney IS a vote for Obama. Both have supported Ben Bernanke, the NDAA, the auto bailouts, the Patriot Act, TARP legislation, and much more. If Obama is re-elected, so be it. The liberty movement is much bigger than this election. The more people vote for Johnson, the louder we get. We might not get our way now, but we can try to start. I’m voting for Governor Johnson because I know I’m not wasting my vote. To those dingbats who think I am, well, you all can suck it.
i am a democrat voting for Johnson. trust this democrat in saying Obama is not going to sink the nation. that is nonsense. its been sinking and i do believe he and others want to fix our nations woes. but they are using old ways, ideas, and ideology that does not work. if it did the nation would not be in this mess
mitt? he is Obama. i must say those who spout nonsense about Obama don’t need to. thats just rhetoric coming from the simple minded. the same sort which used to come from the left portraying Bush as Hitler and a fascist. ah yes, it always goes round and round. but what they BOTH are is just Washington. and if mitt isn’t now he will be later. just like Obama. you don’t need propaganda to sink Obama. crap about islamic ties, communism, birther crap, anti-christ paranoia. no. all that is BS. all you really need to know is this: a black man with an islamic name got elected President of the United States. nothing “changed” and nothing will. and if the most radical person many can conceive elected will not, cannot, or isn’t willing to change gov, no one will or can in the major two parties. fact is Obama is just a big ‘ol Kennedy democrat
and mitt is a Bush repub. both stink
think about what WE hear year after year after year? higher taxes, lower taxes, abortion, no abortion, guns, no guns, healthcare, no healthcare,what does the gov fund and what does it not? how big and how small? sounds like good arguments. but thats all it is, and history shows with dems and repubs this is all they do and talk about. TALK. and the country goes a little right, and then a little left again….and trillions go out the window along with liberty under both parties. and that is why i an voting libertarian this election.
A third party vote is a wasted vote. It has nothing to do with politics or morals or ideology. It’s simple mathematics. You are either for or against. Voting down the middle is a non vote. It serves to weaken the strength of the overall number. It’s for or against, not “I don’t like this game so I’m not playing.” The third party will not win, so you are not making a point with your vote. The incumbent has a better chance of remaining because the vote to remove him is weakened. Study your math. This principle works with apples and oranges. Grapes will not be counted. We are either going to have apples or oranges. It doesn’t matter it you don’t like either one, you are going to get either apples or oranges. If you are too distracted by the grapes to decide, the decision will be made for you. Go ahead, vote Libertarian. Receive absolutely nothing for it. You can tell yourself that you have done the right thing, but the reality of it is that you have done absolutely nothing. The electoral process is about removing or retaining the incumbent, not about getting on a soapbox and shouting about what should be.
“You are either for or against. Voting down the middle is a non vote. ”
IMO this is the perfect argument FOR voting Third Party. Lets be honest. Both sides are constantly working towards the center on policy in a numbers game to just catch votes on Election Day. Sure they both stick to certain issues when it comes to firing up the base, eg. abortion/guns/etc. But really…those are issues that aren’t likely to change anytime soon. And neither party has any interest in doing so. They need to keep their rallying cries to keep the bases divided as they divy up the center vote between them. And all the while the status quo continues.
So voting for either of the Big Two is really the vote you will recieve nothing for. Nothing will change, the leaders of these parties will continue to ignore the will of the people and take the country in the direction they deem best. And we all get dragged along for the ride.
There are HUGE issues which have society wide ramifications that neither of these parties will touch. Such as the mammoth failure of the Drug War and all of the issues it has created. Increased police powers, privatized for-profit prisons lobbying for harsher sentencing and mandatory minimums, the insane number of non-violent offenders in this country locked-up and/or stripped of their vote even after released to further disenfranchise them from effecting any change in policy.Same thing with the War on Terror. The fact is most legislation pushed through in the name of ‘wars’ on Drugs and Terror will eventually be used on the population for other than its stated intended purpose. These are ‘wars’ on the American people in the end. And we have the prison populations to prove it.
So by all means….keep voting for one of the big two just so you can feel like you backed a winner, or so you can bitch and whine for the next four years and get your “Don’t blame me,I didn’t vote for ‘X’” bumper sticker. But as for me, I’m done with it. The only way we’ll EVER see change is by breaking free of the two party system.
What’s really funny is that he calls it “voting down the middle”, as if Obama and Romney are polar opposites and Johnson is somehow the ‘moderate’ middle ground.
Somebody missed a boat somewhere.
My vote is not a bet and this is not a horse race. I consider my vote my endorsement as an American citizen, and it is my civic duty to endorse the only candidate that I believe will steer our country in the proper direction. If everyone voted on principle, perhaps it wouldn’t be such a “waste” but merely yet another vote for the winning candidate. I have to believe that integrity matters, one voice at a time.
Saint John….just the fact that you felt it warranted to spew over 200 words on why I am “wasting my vote” on Johnson further convinced me I am voting for Gary Johnson
That was meant for mcfadden
This country is doomed as long as people put party before candidate. The transfer of power from the party who made the problem worse to the party who created the problem in the first place is not how you fix this country. Excuse me for having a negative outlook on our future but now, more than ever, is the time to set aside the loyalty to your party and vote for an individual whose only loyalty is to the constitution.
What this article is really presenting is the failure of the electoral system. Don’t take part in the fraud anymore. Join us in principled nonvoting:
The Vote for Nobody Campaign
http://www.anti-politics.ws/
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