Do you know what the most striking thing is about the 2012 presidential election? The biggest group of voters in America has no candidate to call their own. Yup, Gallup says 40% of Americans are Independent versus a combined total of 58% for Republicans and Democrats. If you think something is out of whack this election season, you’re right. And now you know the answer. I am one of the 40%, and I sure would rather have a party to identify with, one that would represent my idea of a constitutionally strong federal republic as intended by Thomas Jefferson and the Founders.
It appears that you and I will be facing a presidential ballot this November that features the names Obama and Romney. When asked what words come to mind quickly when hearing the name Obama, I quickly think strychnine, Marx, Sotomayor, Kagan, Obamacare, a 50% tax on dividends, wars, massive and intrusive central government, liberty destruction, anti-second amendment, presidential overreach, income redistribution, incompetence. You get the picture. Asked on Romney? Well nothing, nothing at all. Really swell choices, no? I will have no choice but to hold my nose tightly and vote Romney. At the top of the ladder is the Supreme Court issue. America simply cannot stand another Sotomayor, Kagan or, God forbid, Breyer.
OK then, I have neither a party nor candidate. And I know many of you are in the same sinking boat with me. Well, we do not have to go for the rules as written. The entrenched pols in Washington have rigged the game with campaign rules that stick you and me with our out-dated, two-party system. Today, many of us find ourselves pigeon-holed in one of two parties with groups of people with whom we have nothing in common. Special interest groups rule the day. Americans are trapped in a vice. The presidential choice today is one of two candidates, each of whom is in the pocket of the entrenched Washington special interest groups.
Two groups I hold in special distain are the public sector unions and the neocons. You are probably up to speed on the carnage the unions are wrecking on America’s cities and towns. E.J. Smith covers this sad story in depth regularly here at Richardcyoung.com. Check out E.J.’s weekly audios on The Helen Glover radio show. As to neocons, I will cover this crowd in my upcoming post. You undoubtedly will be in for a shock.
Meanwhile, we have put together a Party Planner display outlining how a multiparty system might look.
Where do you fit in? How about your family, friends and associates? Conduct your own poll. When your results are in, I doubt that either a Barack Obama or Mitt Romney would be the presidential favorite. Over the course of the last year, I have written often about Ron Paul and the Cato Institute. By a wide margin Ron Paul’s principles most closely square with my own. As to Cato, Debbie and I are Cato Club 200 members and feel that no other public policy think tank in the U.S. does a better job of laying out the principles of individual liberty, free markets, and peace than does Cato. Cato does not get involved in politics, endorse candidates, or seek to influence elections. A strict discipline of neutrality is maintained and is referred to regularly at all Cato conclaves. I know for a fact that Cato attendees much admire and respect the unaligned position that Chairman Bob Levy and President Ed Crane lay out at every Cato policy conclave Debbie and I have attended. So check out my Party Planner, take a poll with your gang, and join Debbie and me as Cato Institute supporters. There is much to learn.
Warm regards,
Dick
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