Quote:
PROTEST VOTE!
This is the year of the protest vote.
John McCain is the presumptive Republican nominee, but a major portion of his party can’t stand him. Many will never forgive him for McCain-Feingold, and don’t trust him to recognize a constitutional right or power, much less defend it. Like Bush, he doesn’t have a principled bone in his body. In this, he is typical of his party’s nominees, but is more blatant about it.
Amazingly enough, the Democratic nomination is still a contest, probably all the way to the convention, between Hilary Clinton and Barak Obama. The smart money is on Obama, for the very reason the one-term senator was put forward as a candidate: Hilary Clinton is the only candidate that would unite the Republicans behind McCain. Obama can beat Clinton, as the first real black president rather than the first woman president, and because a charismatic orator can beat a pragmatic policy wonk any day.
Obama doesn’t scare Republicans enough to unite them. They know they’ve blown the budget the last 8 years and deserve to lose. They figure that the Democrats might screw up the economy enough to swing them back in. Some are so bored with their own race that they are switching parties to vote in Democrat primaries, some voting for Obama as the lesser evil, some for Hilary as the candidate who would help McCain win.
Meanwhile, one candidate’s signs and bumper stickers are everywhere, and multiplying. He is none of the above; none of their signs and stickers are out yet. The Democrats are still waiting to be told who to vote for. The Republicans are still coming to terms with their apparent choice. This candidate’s supporters know who they want, and put their money behind him early and often. His supporters are many and small, raising record amounts of money among the grass roots, coming together in a mighty, seemingly Quixotic effort.
He is the libertarian Republican whom the press has tried to ignore, to the point of saying he’s dropped out of the race when he is still in it: the loose elephant in the living room, so to speak. He is the candidate who would end the war in Iraq and at home. He is the Republican about whom a public radio caller said, “He’s the only one who talks like an adult.” It is a common reaction across the spectrum, followed by, “Too bad he can’t win.”
He’s been a congressman for 20 years, and has always voted against anything not authorized by the Constitution—which has put him on the losing side of most votes, but has endeared him to his constituents, who just nominated him again for his House seat.
He knows that he won’t get the Republican Presidential nomination, but he knew that when he started running. He ran because he was asked to. He’s said he’ll stay in the race as long as people keep supporting him, right up to the convention. He’s encouraging his supporters to become active in Republican politics, and they are making interesting commotion in local caucuses and conventions. But he won’t run as an independent or third party candidate in the fall.
And that’s all right. If he doesn’t run, no one can call him a “spoiler.” We don’t need him to run; we have carried him this far, and we can carry him all the way to the White House. WE the People have the power in our hands to elect Ron Paul to the Presidency: the power of the pen or no. 2 pencil. We can write him in. His name is everywhere, and easy to spell. If enough of us write it, he will be elected, and the power of the major parties will be broken.
Even if only a lot of us write him in, it can make an impact on an electoral system that is ignoring good candidates and serving up establishment toadies. Write-in ballots have to be counted by hand. If enough write-ins are received to slow the vote count considerably, that will make news. If there are enough write-in votes in a county that a write-in could win there, they must be read and counted. If Paul could win precincts, counties, or whole states, that will make major news, and will shake the parties to the core.
What do you have to lose? Vote major party, and you have Obama or McCain. Don’t vote at all, and you have Obama or McCain. Vote third party, and you have Obama or McCain. Write in Ron Paul and—who knows? The worst that could happen is you’ll be stuck with Obama or McCain.
The best that could happen is that we’d elect a President who reads the Constitution, and follows it.
This is the year of the protest vote.
John McCain is the presumptive Republican nominee, but a major portion of his party can’t stand him. Many will never forgive him for McCain-Feingold, and don’t trust him to recognize a constitutional right or power, much less defend it. Like Bush, he doesn’t have a principled bone in his body. In this, he is typical of his party’s nominees, but is more blatant about it.
Amazingly enough, the Democratic nomination is still a contest, probably all the way to the convention, between Hilary Clinton and Barak Obama. The smart money is on Obama, for the very reason the one-term senator was put forward as a candidate: Hilary Clinton is the only candidate that would unite the Republicans behind McCain. Obama can beat Clinton, as the first real black president rather than the first woman president, and because a charismatic orator can beat a pragmatic policy wonk any day.
Obama doesn’t scare Republicans enough to unite them. They know they’ve blown the budget the last 8 years and deserve to lose. They figure that the Democrats might screw up the economy enough to swing them back in. Some are so bored with their own race that they are switching parties to vote in Democrat primaries, some voting for Obama as the lesser evil, some for Hilary as the candidate who would help McCain win.
Meanwhile, one candidate’s signs and bumper stickers are everywhere, and multiplying. He is none of the above; none of their signs and stickers are out yet. The Democrats are still waiting to be told who to vote for. The Republicans are still coming to terms with their apparent choice. This candidate’s supporters know who they want, and put their money behind him early and often. His supporters are many and small, raising record amounts of money among the grass roots, coming together in a mighty, seemingly Quixotic effort.
He is the libertarian Republican whom the press has tried to ignore, to the point of saying he’s dropped out of the race when he is still in it: the loose elephant in the living room, so to speak. He is the candidate who would end the war in Iraq and at home. He is the Republican about whom a public radio caller said, “He’s the only one who talks like an adult.” It is a common reaction across the spectrum, followed by, “Too bad he can’t win.”
He’s been a congressman for 20 years, and has always voted against anything not authorized by the Constitution—which has put him on the losing side of most votes, but has endeared him to his constituents, who just nominated him again for his House seat.
He knows that he won’t get the Republican Presidential nomination, but he knew that when he started running. He ran because he was asked to. He’s said he’ll stay in the race as long as people keep supporting him, right up to the convention. He’s encouraging his supporters to become active in Republican politics, and they are making interesting commotion in local caucuses and conventions. But he won’t run as an independent or third party candidate in the fall.
And that’s all right. If he doesn’t run, no one can call him a “spoiler.” We don’t need him to run; we have carried him this far, and we can carry him all the way to the White House. WE the People have the power in our hands to elect Ron Paul to the Presidency: the power of the pen or no. 2 pencil. We can write him in. His name is everywhere, and easy to spell. If enough of us write it, he will be elected, and the power of the major parties will be broken.
Even if only a lot of us write him in, it can make an impact on an electoral system that is ignoring good candidates and serving up establishment toadies. Write-in ballots have to be counted by hand. If enough write-ins are received to slow the vote count considerably, that will make news. If there are enough write-in votes in a county that a write-in could win there, they must be read and counted. If Paul could win precincts, counties, or whole states, that will make major news, and will shake the parties to the core.
What do you have to lose? Vote major party, and you have Obama or McCain. Don’t vote at all, and you have Obama or McCain. Vote third party, and you have Obama or McCain. Write in Ron Paul and—who knows? The worst that could happen is you’ll be stuck with Obama or McCain.
The best that could happen is that we’d elect a President who reads the Constitution, and follows it.
