A Wasted Vote

Many of you have already seen this, I am sure. However, I just ran into this sentiment again in an email discussion with a former mentor of mine. She felt compelled to remind me that we have a two-party system and I will be wasting my vote if I don’t vote for Sen. McCain or Sen. Obama. So, anyone who votes for the candidate(s) that lose wasted their vote? Anyway, I saw this and thought it was timely!

by Chuck Baldwin

When asked why they will not vote for a third party candidate, many people will respond by saying something like, “He cannot win.” Or, “I don’t want to waste my vote.” It is true: America has not elected a third party candidate since 1860. Does that automatically mean, however, that every vote cast for one of the two major party candidates is not a wasted vote? I don’t think so.

In the first place, a wasted vote is a vote for someone you know does not represent your own beliefs and principles. A wasted vote is a vote for someone you know will not lead the country in the way it should go. A wasted vote is a vote for the “lesser of two evils.” Or, in the case of John McCain and Barack Obama, what we have is a choice between the “evil of two lessers.”

Albert Einstein is credited with saying that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting a different result. For years now, Republicans and Democrats have been leading the country in the same basic direction: toward bigger and bigger government; more and more socialism, globalism, corporatism, and foreign interventionism; and the dismantling of constitutional liberties. Yet, voters continue to think that they are voting for “change” when they vote for a Republican or Democrat. This is truly insane!

Take a look at the recent $700 billion Wall Street bailout: both John McCain and Barack Obama endorsed and lobbied for it. Both McCain and Obama will continue to bail out these international banksters on the backs of the American taxpayers. Both McCain and Obama support giving illegal aliens amnesty and a path to citizenship. In the debate this past Tuesday night, both McCain and Obama expressed support for sending U.S. forces around the world for “peacekeeping” purposes. They also expressed support for sending combat forces against foreign countries even if those countries do not pose a threat to the United States. Neither Obama nor McCain will do anything to stem the tide of a burgeoning police state or a mushrooming New World Order. Both Obama and McCain support NAFTA and similar “free trade” deals. Neither candidate will do anything to rid America of the Federal Reserve, or work to eliminate the personal income tax, or disband the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Both Obama and McCain support the United Nations. So, pray tell, how is a vote for either McCain or Obama not a wasted vote?

But, back to the “he cannot win” argument: to vote for John McCain is to vote for a man who cannot win. Yes, I am saying it here and now: John McCain cannot win this election. The handwriting is on the wall. The Fat Lady is singing. It is all over. Finished. John McCain cannot win.

With only three weeks before the election, Barack Obama is pulling away. McCain has already pulled his campaign out of Michigan. In other key battleground states, McCain is slipping fast. He was ahead in Missouri; now it is a toss-up or leaning to Obama. A couple of weeks ago, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Florida were all leaning towards McCain, or at least toss-up states. Now, they are all leaning to Obama. Even the longtime GOP bellwether state of Indiana is moving toward Obama. In addition, new voter registrations are at an all-time high, and few of them are registering as Republicans. In fact, the Republican Party now claims only around 25% of the electorate, and Independents are increasingly leaning toward Obama.

Ladies and gentlemen, Barack Obama is headed for an electoral landslide victory over John McCain. John McCain can no more beat Barack Obama than Bob Dole could beat Bill Clinton.

I ask, therefore, Are not conservatives and Christians who vote for John McCain guilty of the same thing that they accuse people who vote for third party candidates of doing? Are they not voting for someone who cannot win? Indeed, they are. In fact, conservatives and Christians who vote for John McCain are not only voting for a man who cannot win, they are voting for a man who does not share their own beliefs and principles. If this is not insanity, nothing is!

So, why not (for once in your life, perhaps) cast a vote purely for principle! Vote for someone who is truly pro-life. Someone who would quickly secure our nation’s borders, and end the invasion of our country by illegal aliens. Someone who would, on his first day in office, release Border Patrol agents Ramos and Compean and fire U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton. Someone who would immediately, upon assuming office, begin leading the charge to dismantle the Federal Reserve, overturn the 16th Amendment, expunge the IRS, and return America to sound money principles. Someone who would get the US out of the UN. Someone who would stop spending billions and trillions of dollars for foreign aid. Someone who would prosecute the Wall Street bankers who defrauded the American people out of billions of dollars. Someone who would work to repeal NAFTA, CAFTA, GATT, the WTO, and stop the NAFTA superhighway. Someone who would say a resounding “No” to the New World Order. Someone who would stop using our brave men and women in uniform as global cops for the United Nations. Someone who would stop America’s global adventurism and interventionism. Someone who would steadfastly support and defend the right of the people to keep and bear arms.

“Who is this person?” you ask. Go here to find out:

http://www.baldwin08.com/.

Tax Cuts for the Wealthy

Again, not sure who to credit this one to. A different take on tax cuts for the wealthy:

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Every night, ten men met at a restaurant for dinner. At the end of the meal, the bill would arrive. They owed $100 for food that they shared. Every night, they lined up in the same order at the cash register. The first four men paid nothing at all. The fifth, grumbling about the unfairness of the situation, paid $1. The sixth man, feeling very generous, paid $3. The next three men paid $7, $12, and $18, respectively. The last man was required to pay the remaining balance, $59. He realized that he was forced to pay for not only his own meal, but also the unpaid balance left by the first five men.

The ten men were quite settled into their routine when the restaurant threw them into chaos by announcing that it was cutting its prices. Now, dinner for the ten men would only cost $80. This clearly would not affect the first four men. They still ate for free. The fifth and sixth men both claimed their piece of the $20 right away: the fifth decided to forgot his $1 and the sixth only paid $2. The seventh man deducted $2 from his usual payment. The eighth paid $9 and the ninth man paid $12. The last man was left with a bill of $52.

Outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings, and angry outbursts began to erupt.

The sixth man yelled, “I only got $1 out of the $20 and he got $7!” pointing at the last man.

The fifth man joined in. “Yeah! I only got $1, too! It is unfair that he got seven times more than me.”

The seventh man cried, “Why should he get $7 back when I only got $2?”

The first four men followed the lead of the others: “We didn’t get any of the $20. Where is our share?”

The nine angry men formed an outraged mob, surrounding the 10^th man. They carried the tenth to the top of the hill and lynched him.

The next night, the nine remaining men met at the restaurant for dinner. But when the bill came, there was no one to pay it.

Wish More Would Have Listened

Early this morning, I called my representative’s office in Washington. My request that my congressman continue to vote “No” on the bailout bill and my comments about it were noted by the person on the other end of the line. I had to give my name, address, and telephone number – perhaps for a follow-up letter, perhaps just to make sure I really lived in the correct legislative district to be calling and expressing an opinion.

I was disappointed that the bailout bill passed, but I was not surprised. I was very glad to hear that my representative here in the mid-Central region of the country kept his “no” vote. I called his office back this afternoon to express my thanks.

Read a really great reaction of what this bill means from someone who has been warning (for years) about the economic collapse caused by (among others) the government.

So, now what? Well, Congress has not helped anything with this bill in the long-term. The hole we dug ourselves is still there. In my opinion, there is no way we can avoid reaching the bottom of the hole. The “relief” package passed today will slow our descent some, but may ultimately make the hole deeper and also may make it a longer climb out.

I was able to listen to the second half of the VP debate last night. I thought both parties did a good job of giving their stock lines and pat answers. (I liked Sarah Palin’s “Drill, baby drill.” and “Say it ain’t so, Joe.” I was glad to hear she is still trying to convince John McCain that drilling in Anwar is the right thing to do.) Overall, I was disappointed in the lack of answers and the constant pointing out of how great their running mates are.

I really hope more people look into the third party candidates. Read more about them. Consider voting for them. Libertarian Bob Barr. Independent Ralph Nader. Green Party Nominee Cynthia McKinney. Or, my favorite, Constitution Party candidate Chuck Baldwin.

If you want to know more about what Chuck Baldwin would do as President of the United States of America, view this column to read about it.

Catching Wild Pigs

Not sure who to credit for this one, but some of you have probably seen it go around the ‘net a few times.

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There was a chemistry professor in a large college that had some exchange students in the class. One day while the class was in the lab, the Prof noticed one young man, an exchange student, who kept rubbing his back and stretching as if his back hurt.

The professor asked the young man what was the matter. The student told him he had a bullet lodged in his back. He had been shot while fighting communists in his native country who were trying to overthrow his country’s government and install a new communist regime.

In the midst of his story, he looked at the professor and asked a strange question. He asked:

“Do you know how to catch wild pigs?”

The professor thought it was a joke and asked for the punch line. The young man said that it was no joke.

“You catch wild pigs by finding a suitable place in the woods and putting corn on the ground. The pigs find it and begin to come everyday to eat the free corn. When they are used to coming every day, you put a fence down one side of the place where they are used to coming.

“When they get used to the fence, they begin to eat the corn again and you put up another side of the fence. They get used to that and start to eat again. You continue until you have all four sides of the fence up with a gate in the last side.

“The pigs, which are used to the free corn, begin to come through the gate to eat the free corn.

“You then slam the gate on them and catch the whole herd. Suddenly the wild pigs have lost their freedom. They run around and around inside the fence, but they are caught.

“Soon they go back to eating the free corn . They are so used to it that they have forgotten how to forage in the woods for themselves, so they accept their captivity.”

The young man then told the professor that is exactly what he sees happening in America . The government keeps pushing us toward Communism/Socialism and keeps spreading the free corn out in the form of programs such as Social Security, tax credit for unearned income, sugar and other farm subsidies, payments not to plant crops (CRP), welfare, Medicare, etc. while we continually lose our freedoms, just a little at a time.

Politics . . . Again

In general, I’m not a person to stereotype, but this situation screamed for me to point out how people made them fit! Here are some pictures from our vantage point on the sidelines of the local County Fair parade. Guess the political party to which each candidate belongs.

A local (write-in) candidate for the state legislature – on his feet and walking.

Incumbent running for state legislature – this is literally all we saw of him.

Candidate for U.S. Senate – This is how close he was to us – shaking hands & kissing babes & everything. Okay, maybe not kissing babes or babies. But definitely shaking hands.

The first & third pictures are of one political party & the middle one is of the other major one.

Speaking of political parties. Don’t forget to check out Chuck Baldwin of the Constitution Party!