The Voting Independant

                 When it comes to politics, I can either be very vehement with my stances, or overly cynical. With the 2012 elections just around the corner, I've been seeing both sides of the coin in an almost continual rotation. This duality of perspective stems from my absolute hatred of the two party system. They split America by red state and blue state, bipolarize stances to the point where it's barely comprehensible and shepherds the sheep of the country into one of two ideological slaughterhouses.

Okay, maybe that last analogy was a bit over the top, but my personal opinion is that political parties shouldn't exist at all. How many people do you know that will vote for someone just because they have a pachyderm or jackass plastered on their signs and commercials? And how many of those people actually have differing ideals from their party, but just go with the flow anyway? I once met a man in the Bible-belt who called himself a "Blabtist" (meaning Baptist). He would mock the inner workings and doctrinal stances of his church all the time, but he would never leave it because it was the one thing that was familiar to him and he didn't want to deal with the inconvenience of change.  I believe that there are more "Blabtists" in the U.S. than we might think. People who disagree with something but, for some reason, choose not to act, instead they fall in with what is familiar. The only thing worse than a fence sitter is someone who chooses without thought.

Though I would eventually like to see the end of the political party system, the first step is to bring third parties into the spotlight. Parties such as the Constitution, Green and Libertarian parties, each having wide, differing stances, need to be more politically and socially recognized to enhance our choices come election time. We are voting for people to represent us in government and, more importantly, people to represent you. Now I'm not saying that no one should vote Democrat or Republican. If you've studied their stances and agree wholly or mostly with that candidate then definitely vote for them.

Gary Johnson,
Libertarian Candidate

As for me, I will be voting Gary Johnson for president come November sixth. He is the Libertarian candidate and the closest I can find in representing my ideals. His platform offers real change compared to the nitpicking that both Mitt Romney and Barak Obama are offering. Changes like reforming the tax system and removing the IRS for the FairTax proposal, ending the futile Drug War and legalizing marijuana to save billions of dollars and reduce the power of drug cartels in Central and South America which are funded mostly by the American dollar. And finally, reforming the immigration laws to make legal immigration easier and increase pressure on those who just want a free ride.

Do I think he has a chance to become president? No, of course not.  But I am not going to vote for someone that does not represent me. To do so would completely undermine the concept of a democratic republic. And this applies to all levels of government, what I want is for people to wake up and vote for who represents them. Gage the stances instead of the color of their affiliation. Alternative choices need media attention as well and debates need more than just the two candidates. If we can do these things then the facade will be thrown off and the real democratic republic will emerge just as the founding fathers envisioned it to be centuries before.