One of those things you don't talk about in public...

Hi gang,

I'm still hard at work on the new book, so I've been neglecting the blog lately.  I took a while off to goof around online, and Michele was looking a political site online.  Now normally I don't get involved in political discussions, because like religion, my views are personal.  And anyway, it's one of those subjects your parents always tell you not to discuss in polite company if you want your company to remain polite.
But, as sometimes happens, my emotions got the better of me, and I just had to speak up on this one posting that went up on the Libertarian section of the site.  Not because of who the person was voting for, mind you.  But because he said that anybody who didn't vote for either Obama or Romney was throwing their vote away.  That really set me off, and I had to post something about it.  Since I haven't posted in a while, I thought I'd share:

I don't usually talk politics. Normally I keep my opinions to myself. But I built up a little rant reading these posts, and I have to get this off my chest just once.

I didn't vote for Barack Obama the first time he ran because I had never heard of him, and I didn't think he showed me anything while he was running except for a bunch of catchphrases. Forget all the controversies that surrounded him before, during, and after the election, I just didn't think he had what it took to be president. 

He hasn't shown me anything in the last four years as president that's changed my opinion. On the contrary, the fact that he was the first sitting president to appear on Oprah and Letterman while the shape of the country was deteriorating and the fact that I'm paying twice as much for gas as I was when he took office are just more proof (to me at least), that I was right to feel that way.

I am also realistic and know that I live in a state that, while we have a Republican governor right now ("which has worked out SO well," he said sarcastically), traditionally votes democratic. So Romney's got about as much chance of getting the electoral votes here as I do. Obama won here 4 years ago, and I've seen so many of his signs on people's houses that it looks to me like he'll win here again. That's pretty sad that we pretty much know who our state is going to swing towards already, but it's the way the system is.

That having been said, that's how the system is. It's just like going in some convenience stores. Coke and Pepsi. That's all you get. And it's that way because more people DON'T vote their conscience. If you really think that Gary Johnson is the best candidate on the ballot, then dammit, you should VOTE for him! Everybody complains (and rightly so) about the two-party system, and how it's broken, and how somebody somewhere should do something to FIX it. Well guess what? SOMEBODY is US! Everybody made fun of Clint Eastwood's performance at the RNC convention, but he said one thing that was dead on. We The People DO own this country. At least that's how it's supposed to be. It's ours, and our children's, and if we don't like what our elected officials are doing with our trust, then we need to let them know about it. And the only way to make a real change, and ensure that we have a real choice, is to make sure that we don't just vote for one guy or the other because "that other guy doesn't belong to a major party and he's not going to win." The only way to MAKE the Libertarians a major party is with votes. Give them enough votes to keep them on the ballot if you believe in what they have to say, and let the guys in the suits make them enough money to do the rest. IMHO, if you vote for Romney or Obama just because you think think the other guys can't win, which a lot of people are going to do, THAT will be throwing away your vote.

Don't just settle for Coke and Pepsi because because they're the Big 2.

Sometimes I like a little RC too.