Fear Not My Fellow Conchs
Dear Editor,
They say that a wasted vote is voting for someone who doesn’t represent you, and I agree, and I believe the people of the Florida Keys, in our lofty island paradise, also would agree with the sentiment. Out of the 319 million Americans, we’re taught that we must pick one of two to take the position of the most powerful leader of the free world, the Presidency of the United States of America. It’s easy to sit back in between media attack ads, prime time coverage, and vistas of campaign signs and wonder, if even for a moment, is this really the best we can do? If only there was another way, if only there was another voice, if only there was a third option.
I say, fear not my fellow Conchs, for there is another option this election besides the second Conch Republic secession. His name is Gary Johnson, he is a Libertarian, and he will be on the ballot in all 50 States. Gary Johnson is experienced, he served as a Republican two term governor in New Mexico, a mostly blue State, and he believes in small government, he vetoed more new legislation than all of the other governors combined. Like many Americans, Gary Johnson is fiscally conservative, he believes in abolishing the IRS, ending the Federal income tax and cutting government waste. Unlike the other two options from the dinosaur parties, Gary Johnson happens fiscally conservative, but he is also liberal on social issues, he has been a long time proponent of marriage equality, something the Libertarian Party has believed in since it was incepted in 1971, and was the highest office holder in the land to ever call for the legalization of marijuana. The Libertarians have been around for quite some time now, and Gary Johnson is their Presidential ticket. The Libertarian Party is the third largest political party in the United States, and it is currently the only growing political party in the United States, and I encourage you to look it up.
Remember that silly scene in the movie Airplane when the two dinner options are announced as “steak or fish”? After consuming this dinner, many on board get deathly ill. It turns out there’s a doctor on board and he asks the crew what they served for dinner. When the stewardess replies “steak or fish” the doctor says, “Yes, yes, I remember, I had lasagna.”
Even in a silly movie, there’s always a palatable third option that doesn’t make you sick, right?
I invite you to Google Gary Johnson, look up the Libertarian Party, review their platform and see if Libertarian makes sense. Look up your local and State Libertarian candidates, and see what they have to say that’s different, what they are about, and why they are running. In the spirit of the Conch Republic I would encourage everyone to strive to live free. If you don’t like the message of freedom and liberty and prefer to stick with the status quo, just know there is plenty of undercooked steak and fish that got everyone sick to go around.
The choice is yours.
Steven Nekhaila, Key West
I agree with Steve.
Everyone running is a politician and therefore suspect, but the Johnson-Wade ticket seems far superior to the blue or red choice.
People often think of Libertarian as far right Republican, but that’s not accurate at all. Note that a state dominated by Democrats has elected and re-elected Johnson. In general, Libertarians support personal freedom and adherence to the US Constitution. That to me is a really welcome change from what we have been served by the last several Republican and Democrat presidencies. Like Steve suggests in his analogy to Airplane, both of the usual choices have been rather sickening, and it even smells badly this time around. No thanks, I’ll just have the pretzels.
It would be really nice to see a non-political leader for a change, but it only takes 7 minutes to rig a voting machine and dead people do vote.