Why now?

I don't know if I'm best described as a very conservative person with a strong streak of libertarian values, or if I am a strongly libertarian person with a solid streak of conservatism. Either way, it is what it is and I am what I am.

Many of my friends ask me why I did not vote for Mitt Romney this year. It's a fair question. I think Obama is Satan incarnate when it comes to politics. The man is more socialist than Hitler, Zedong, Marx, Castro and Chavez. Obama has single - handedly set the United States back twenty years with respects to fiscal and social issues. The man is a failure on every front... unless you measure success in terms of the destruction of the capitalistic representative republic that the US was created to be.

So why not vote for Romney? Is he that bad?

In a word: YES.

There is no difference
Romney is every bit as bad as Obama. I cannot say worse, because from where I stand ,my values with regards to the direction of the country are 180 degrees from Obama or Romney. The question is the speed at which we get there.

Actually, that isn't the question at all. Romney and Obama will make big-government decisions that will further erode liberty. They will just do so with a slightly different focus. And they will do so with different language. But at the end of the day, the intent and the direction and the result will be the SAME.

Similarities
On the issues, Obama and Romney are mirror images on the topics that compel me to vote for or against someone:
- Both are in favor of socialized healthcare (Romneycare = Obamacare, for all intents and purposes)
- Both are pro-murder (aka pro-choice)
- Both are anti-gun
- Both are in favor of higher taxes
- Both hide behind nomenclature with respect to what to call those higher taxes (ie - "fees")
- Both talk about bipartisan compromise
- Both are pro-war
- Both look to have the government subsidize their own pet big-businesses in one way or another
- Both Romney and Obama favor borrowing more money to fund the Federal government
- Both are against gay marriage
- Both are against legalization of marijuana
- Both are in favor of ethanol subsidies
- Both are in favor of subsidies for big oil companies
- Both are in favor of TARP
- Both are in favor of the bailouts
- Both are in favor of the Patriot Act
- Both are in favor of NDAA

Of those topics, I really do not care about gay marriage and legalization of marijuana. I realize it is not government's role to say whom a person may marry - that decision is best left to the parties who wish to marry. I've never used marijuana in any form, but I have researched it, and there is no quantifiable reason to regulate it. Besides, given some of the recommendations by the government on what we should ingest, it is clear that the government needs to get out of food and drug regulation altogether.

Now for me. 
My values on the same issues, minus the two I just named:
- No socialized anything.
- Pro Life
- Pro Gun
- Lower taxes
- War is a last resort
- No government subsidies on anything
- Balanced budget
- TARP was unconstitutional
- Bailouts were unconstitutional
- Patriot Act is unconstitutional
- NDAA is unconstitutional

Gary Johnson
Of these, the only topic I disagree with Libertarian party candidate Gary Johnson on is that Johnson is pro-choice, and I am pro-life. That said, Johnson feels this is a states' rights issue and that if a state outlaws abortion, then so be it. I can agree with that 100%.

Of all the presidential candidates, every one of them is currently pro-choice, or has been in the past. So that issue is best resolved with Johnson's take on it - which is constitutional, by the way.

A vote for Johnson is a vote for Obama
Some people will yell this at me. I understand their logic, as it takes a vote away from their candidate, who is <>. However, given the extreme similarities, I am forced to deduce that the only difference between Obama and Romney is that one is a black Muslim, and the other is a white Mormon. Since these differences to not endow a person with any special ability relative to the office of President of the United States, I deem it irrelevant. 

Since there is no difference... I will counter that statement with one of my own that is even more accurate:

A VOTE FOR ROMNEY IS A VOTE FOR OBAMA

Since this is the case, and I cannot in good conscience vote for Obama.
And since Romney is a political clone of Obama (only changing his stance on a few items out of convenience to win the Republican nomination).
It is clear that I must look to one of the other candidates. And I found one!

But Romney is the lesser of two evils
I hear this one a lot. Of course, it does not apply. Here's why:
Obama was the lesser of two evils in 2008
Bush was the lesser of two evils in 2004 and 2000
I do not know many people who think this is a great trend.

Besides, how is that voting for evil thing working out for you so far?
You really think McCain was the lesser of two evils? OK, I'll play. Show me what he would have done differently. OK, since you can't, that means my point stands.
You think Bush was OK, and he was the lesser of two evils? OK, I'll play. He was the one that passed TARP, the bailouts, and the Patriot Act. It was Bush's Patriot Act and some of his policies that led to NDAA. Bush also appointed the pivotal Supreme Court Justice who wrongly upheld the Constitutionality of Obamacare (Chief Justice Roberts!).

I'm through
I am finished voting for the lesser of two evils!
I am finished voting for evil!
I am not going to vote for "more security" at the expense of my freedom!
I will not vote for someone who is fine with senseless death.

Gary Johnson 2012

I voted for him. You can, too.


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