There Is an Alternative
The first shot was the cover with caricatures of Clinton and Trump sporting long Pinocchio noses.
The next shot was on page 42 with this: “A Virginia woman’s obituary gave the upcoming Presidential election--and the choice of voting for either Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton--as her cause of death.”
That may be a little extreme, but there seems to be a substantial number of voters who feel that the current choices are deadly.
Unfortunately, that feeling of doom was exacerbated with Trump’s inexcusable racist attack on a judge who is ethically prohibited from responding.
That rant brought to mind the days before Little League. Senior citizens will remember when an unorganized group of boys would gather on a vacant lot or in an unplowed field where some had brought their own balls, bats, and gloves. Two “captains” would be selected in some manner and they would alternate picking their team members from the group.
If little Donnie was not among the first chosen, he would start wailing, “This isn’t fair,” and run home to his Mommie. Doesn’t that sound like big Donnie--Donald Trump--a juvenile, thin-skinned cry baby and bully?
Byrne was a Secret Service agent assigned to the White House during Bill Clinton’s Presidency. He reportedly claims that Hillary has a “volcanic” leadership style and “simply lacks the integrity and temperament to serve in the office.”
With such concerns about both candidates, some are looking for someone to run as an independent.
That would be a tremendous mistake for Republicans, as it would insure the election of Clinton.
One of the largest hurdles for a late arising independent would be getting on the ballots. The deadline for registering is already passed in some states, including Texas.
So why not get behind a party and two candidates already on the ballots--the Libertarian Party and former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson for President and former Massachusetts Governor Bill Weld for VP.
There is an indication that Mitt Romney and Jeb Bush may begin supporting these two and educating the public on the Libertarian Party.
If Johnson and Webb reach 15% in national opinion polls, they will win spots on the upcoming debates among the Presidential candidates. They are now at about 12%.
Their biggest obstacles in winning public attention and support are the news media ignoring them as viable candidates and the public confusion over what the Libertarian Party reflects.
Too many think that Libertarian means liberal. That is way off the mark. Libertarian mean liberty. The party’s basic platform reflects the beliefs of Republicans before their party was abducted by the far right conservatives.
Consider, for example, this preamble to the national Libertarian Party platform:
“As Libertarians, we seek a world of liberty; a world in which all individuals are sovereign over their own lives and no one is forced to sacrifice his or her values for the benefit of others.
“We believe that respect for individual rights is the essential precondition for a free and prosperous world, that force and fraud must be banished from human relationships, and that only through freedom can peace and prosperity be realized.
“Consequently, we defend each person’s right to engage in any activity that is peaceful and honest, and welcome the diversity that freedom brings. The world we seek to build is one where individuals are free to follow their own dreams in their own ways, without interference from government or any authoritarian power.”
And this from the Texas Libertarian Party website:
“The Libertarian Party is sometimes described as the party of both fiscal responsibility and social tolerance, the best of both worlds approach to political policy that doesn't accept or require the false choice between liberal and conservative. LPTexas represents liberty, justice, equality, privacy, independence, non-aggression, and the rule of law --- the founding principles of our great nation --- and is committed to a mission of political action to restore these core principles to our government and chart a future course based on voluntary cooperation, mutual respect, free markets, and the realization of human potential.”
The only principle of Libertarians that give some, including me, some pause is their isolationist views on foreign affairs.
So here’s the perspective.
What Texan, other than blind followers of socialists like Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton who believe that a big government is the only answer for all personal relationships, cannot say, “Hey! this personal freedom and self-determination is what I long for.”
The path to a White House without Trump or Clinton is there. Let’s take it.
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