First Person Singular: Vote for what, not who

I can honestly say I’ve never voted for anyone who has
raised taxes, authorized an invasion into another country or promoted any legislation
that violated the principles of the Constitution or eroded individual liberty
or personal responsibility.

What that means is that I’ve never voted for a Republican or
a Democrat. Also, for the sake of full disclosure, I’ve never voted for a
candidate who won the election. That will continue this year. I vote for what I
want, not for someone just because I think he or she can win.

This year, as is often the case, the people who represent my
political philosophy are off the Pennsylvania ballot, so I will write in the
names of the Libertarian Party candidates running for U.S. Senate, governor and
lieutenant governor.

There’s no way I can bring myself to vote for any of the
government party candidates. The Corbett/ Onorato race for governor has been a
thumb-sucker, boring and flaccid. Listening to either candidate talk is a great
cure for insomnia and neither candidate can think outside the statist box.

The interesting race is the senate campaign between Pat
Toomey on the Republican side and Joe Sestak, the sitting Democrat U.S. Rep.
serving the 7th Congressional District, vying for the seat currently
held by Democrat-turned-Republican-turned-Democrat Arlen Specter.

I’ve never met Mr. Toomey. From what I’ve seen and read,
though, I expect him to be a typical right wing conservative who talks a great
game about the free market but would play the corporate welfare game once in
office and place basic civil liberties on the back burner.

Mr. Sestak is another story. I have met him and I like him.
As a former enlisted man in the U.S. Air Force, I recognize and respect the
proper quiet and confident command bearing displayed by the former three-star
admiral. But there’s no way I would trust him with either my money or my
liberty. Politically he is simply a left-wing statist who would control how I
spend my money and would also tell me what I can and can’t eat.

For those living in Chadds Ford Township and other parts of
in the 7th Congressional District, there is the race between
Democrat Bryan Lentz, the incumbent state legislator representing the 161st
Legislative District, and Republican Pat Meehan, a former U.S. attorney.

Mr. Meehan hasn’t been available in Chadds Ford, but Mr.
Lentz did attend the Democratic Party fund-raiser at the Outback last weekend.
Voters should know that while he said representatives should cite
constitutional authority for legislation they propose, he also said he believes
the Constitution is a living document. All that means is that he, like others,
would treat the Constitution as meaning whatever they want it to mean in order
to rationalize a given political agenda. Would you want to play poker with a
guy like that?

So for whom should you vote? For what will you vote?

For me, I’ll be writing in the names of Libertarian
candidates that the Republican Party kept off the state ballot: Marakay Rogers
for governor, Kat Valleley for lieutenant governor and Douglas Jamison for U.S.
Senate. In all other races I’ll write in “None of the above.”

(Unfair ballot access is an issue to be addressed later.)

Will my candidates win? Likely not, but neither will half of
the other candidates. For almost 40 years I’ve been told I’m wasting my vote.
No, I’m not. My vote is for liberty and for those who I think will help make
that manifest. I would rather vote for what I want and not get it, than vote
for the lesser of two evils just because one of them would win an election.
Doing that would be the waste of a vote.

Look at the condition of the country and of the state then
ask whether you want more of the same, Tweedledum vs. Tweedledummer. People
base their votes on various reasons. Some make a selection based on a
candidate’s personality (perceived personality, really) while others make the
choice based on a candidate’s party affiliation. Still others vote for a
candidate who they think agrees with them on at least one issue. Some of us
vote based on a candidate’s political philosophy. I’d vote for Republican Ron
Paul if I had the opportunity, but I don’t so I vote Libertarian.

My endorsement is to say vote as if your liberty depends on
it—because it does.

About CFLive Staff

See Contributors Page https://chaddsfordlive.com/writers/

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