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/.

Grim Thoughts / Musings on Kids

I responded to a friend’s email about politics the other night with a hugely negative overtone. As I went on and on about how neither major presidential candidate will be able to get the US out of the mess we are in, I realized how depressing it would be to read. So, I ended up by attaching some smiling pictures of my kids – including one of my youngest sitting in a pile of spices that he had emptied out of an almost full container of parsley (or was it oregano?). I listed a few things about each kid and finished with some thoughts on what keeps me going.

So, first some required reading:
- How did we get into this mess?
- One person’s opinion on what is coming.

Now, what I ended on, my kid notes – edited slightly for privacy.
Child #4 says only, “DaDa,” but understands quite a bit of what is said around him. He is a climber and has a habit of climbing chairs and other furniture to get at things he shouldn’t be into.

Child #3 continues to be quite verbose and is showing a memory just as impressive as Child #1′s at the same age. Her mind works at levels I had not imagined a two year old’s could.

Child #2 continues to be my artistic, imaginative, and soulful child. She is a girly-girl (always wearing a dress) but also the one who searches out every bug/worm/insect and animal within sight.

Child #1 is a leader (although not always a good one) and a great helper. She loves to go for bike rides with her dad and play with the oodles of children on our block.

They are all very different from one another and challenge me to be a better person and mom every day. It is amazing to be there when your child first grasps that _all by herself_, she can figure out that certain letters strung together tell a story that is fun to read! It is rewarding to see the smile on another’s face when she ‘beats the clock’ in her oral arithmetic practice. The little impish grin on a smudged face when you find her making mud pies with your cooking utensils is priceless. And everyone should see the backward “I know I’m not supposed to do this, but I’m going to do it anyway” look that my small boy gives me when he heads towards some forbidden object or destination.

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.

Show Us What You’ve Got, Sarah!

Tonight, Governor Palin, show us that you really are a maverick, a rebel, and a worker for CHANGE. When the “Do you agree with the bailout” question comes, give us your honest answer. Don’t mirror McCain. Don’t give us the line you’ve been briefed to give.

Inspire the American people.

Either this bailout is the right thing to do or it is not. (In my opinion, it is not.) All the “sweeteners” (pork) in the world are not enough to make it right.

Say that and the Republican Party may actually have its next Real Leader.

When You Don’t Know History, You are Doomed to Repeat It

“The Federal Reserve bank protected them at our expense: when “conservative” bankers make profits, they get the benefits; when they are hurt, we pay the costs.”

 

pg 43, The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable by Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Here’s part of the paragraph before this line.

“In the summer of 1982, large American banks lost close to all their past earnings (cumulatively), about everything they ever made in the history of American banking – everything. They had been lending to South and Central American countries that all defaulted at the same time – “an event of an exceptional nature.” So it took just one summer to figure out that this was a sucker’s business and that all their earnings came from a very risky game. All that while the bankers led everyone, especially themselves, into believing that they were “conservative.” They are not conservative; just phenomenally skilled at self-deception by burying the possibility of a large, devastating loss under the rug. In fact, the travesty repeated itself a decade later, with the “risk-conscious” large bans once again under financial strain, many of them near-bankrupt, after the real-estate collapse of the early 1990s in which the now defunct savings and loan industry required a taxpayer-funded bailout of more than half a trillion dollars.”