Our country is a mess. We have accumulated so much debt that we’re never going to be able to repay it, the government continues to spend even more money that it doesn’t have, our country is involved in several wars, and nothing seems to change. While I can’t address the first three items I just typed out I can address the last. The reason nothing changes in this country is because of people like this:
I had the pleasure of attending my caucus on Tuesday night. Presidential candidate Ron Paul spoke. He said some things that I agreed with wholeheartedly (70 percent), and some that I thought were either unrealistic, unfeasible, impossible or flat-out lunacy (30 percent). He took no questions.
I came to the caucus with no real “dog in this fight.” I ended up supporting Rick Santorum, but not enthusiastically. At the caucus, I asked a Paul supporter two questions: 1) Is Paul a real Republican or a libertarian, and 2) If he loses the nomination, will he support the eventual Republican nominee and swear off running as an independent or libertarian?
I had kicked the hornets’ nest. I was greeted with some obscenities. I was “a tool of the system.” I was the problem, not Ron Paul.
I was young and dumb once, and wasted a vote on Ross Perot. The folksy rich guy turned out to be nothing more than a unbalanced, mean spirited 1-percenter who would do anything to see that George H.W. Bush didn’t get a second term. Perot finished a distant third, but got his wish on Bush’s reelection, and I got eight years of an unprincipled guy willing to fool around with girls a third his age.
Huyck is a classic example of somebody who puts the part before political common sense. He’s not concerned about putting the most qualified man into the Oval Office, he only cares that his party is the one occupying it. The problem is, with a single exception, everybody running for the Republican candidate is a big government war monger that wants to legislate morality, the exact thing that has gotten us into the massive mess we face now. Ron Paul is not a Republican in the modern sense and expecting him to swear an oath of loyalty is pure stupidity. What this country really needs is an individual who understands economics, liberty, and is willing to buck the trend of ever expanding government. While Romney, Santorum, and Gingrich continue to pay lip service to such concepts they have no track record backing up their rhetoric. Even though people blame our current mess on Obama and the Democrats the truth is that the Republicans hold just as much responsibility as they also continued to expand the size of government. It’s not the red Republicans against the blue Democrats, it’s just one big fucking party of purple.
Huych then talks about “wasting” his vote on Ross Perot. Here’s the thing, statistically speaking, all votes are wasted. One vote doesn’t matter and Huych voting for Ross Perot wasn’t the death knell for Bush Senior or Dole. Does he honestly thing this country would have been better under a second term of the first Bush or a term of Dole? Hell we wouldn’t have been any better off if McCain won instead of Obama. Honestly, in my opinion, any vote cast simply to support a party instead of an individual is entirely wasted.
Finally I love his last line:
All I ask is that everyone treat their vote like it really matters.
JAY HUYCK, MAPLE GROVE
Unfortunately, as the link I previous posted proves, your vote doesn’t matter. Whether I go to the ballot and vote for Romney or stay home the outcome will be exactly the same because no major election has ever been decided by a single vote. I’m not entirely opposed to voting, it’s a tool the state allows to enact some kind of change and if we can get a liberty minded candidate in office I’m going to support him through and through. What I will not do is waste my time going to the poll to vote between Romney, Santorum, or Gingrich versus Obama. In that race no matter who wins we all lose.