For the past year I have been very confused on which party I really fell in line with. Over time, I came to the realization that I shared some views with democrats, some with republicans, and some with neither. I was one of the naive that fell for the scam propagated by these two parties. Since our nation gained independence and these two parties emerged, they have used their influence to dissuade any third parties from cropping up. After all, it's easier to beat one opponent than multiple.

In the past few months, I came across some podcasts that I chose only based on their opposition to the two party system and the current status quo. One of them was Free Talk Live. After the first episode, I kind of wrote it off as people who might be a little too far gone. However, sometimes at work I get bored so I ended up listening some more. And I realized that I have never aligned more with one belief system than those of liberty activists.

The libertarian party is one with ambitious beginnings, which has become diluted with each defeat it suffers. However, its original ideals are sound. They believe in minimization of government and freedom to persue whatever interests you chose, so long as they do not impede or harm others. For years I have been frustrated with the desire people have to impose their beliefs on others. This is something that i despise about most politicians. They feel this or that and decide that this is how the law should be. However, unless someone is actually harming another person, they should have no say. Our government should have no interest or say in who marries who, for example. Why is that of any relevance?

Government has gotten far too large. Federal income taxes are an abomination. Remember, taxation was a major reason we decided to break away from our former home nation to begin with. Government needs to shrink dramatically, with state governments taking back power that is being handled on a federal level. It is far far easier to influence and keep track of a smaller local government.

Back to the issue of voting. I have considered voting for both obama or mccain, not voting at all, writing in a vote, or going with a third party. I have decided to vote libertarian, going with bob barr as my choice. Many will call my vote a waste. I do not believe this is so, especially since unless you are in a swing state, YOUR VOTE IS ALREADY MEANINGLESS. New york is voting democrat, and nothing i do will effect that. The one way I can make my vote carry any meaning, is to vote for what I believe in. Barr happens to align most closely with my views, so he will get my vote.

He will also receive my vote because it is a statement that i support parties other than republican or democrat. In fact, I may "waste" many votes in this fashion as protest of the two party system. There must be a better way. This is my way of refusing to comply. I do not believe Obama or McCain will do anything to protect me from the loss of rights we currently face. I do not believe that they will do anything to return our nation to what it was founded on.

My biggest fear is that Obama will win and "fix" our economy the way Clinton did. And by fix I mean set the stage for a collapse like we are seeing now (remember who put forth the legislation that allowed all of these bad loans), while expanding government power and stealing our rights.

I could go on for pages, but let any of you who are voting for the less of two evils, please, reconsider. Unless you are in a swing state your vote will not influence the decision for president. The one move you can make is to vote for a person with who you would actually be PROUD to call president, based on good policy and keeping the best interests of the country at heart.