Good evening,
Tonight a great many of you probably watched the third and final debate in the 2016 Presidential election between Donald J. Trump and Hillary Clinton. While some of you may have watched with a genuine interest in using the debate as a basis for which candidate to cast a vote in support of on election day, a vast majority of you tuned in for the purposes of trying to decide whether either of them are worthy of the time required to drive to the polling center and wait in line on election day.
Perhaps even more depressing is the fact an even smaller number of you undoubtedly watched with the intent of deciding who to vote against on November 8. Such is the state of the final chapter in American politics.
I say final chapter because one would certainly hope an election between tonight’s debate participants represents the last time my fellow countrymen are willing to swallow such an unpalatable choice in deciding our nation’s future. You see, America isn’t easy.
A federal democratic republic with the ethnic, religious, and socioeconomic diversity of ours is incredibly rare and perhaps beyond historical comparison. In more ways than one, we are an exception to the course of human history. American exceptionalism is an oft repeated, yet frequently misunderstood phrase in America politics.
An exception is a rare deviation from the rule. The rule in question that America deviates from, is the rule that man is unfit to rule his or herself. The rule of nations in human history has been the belief that laws, and their enforcement, are best entrusted to a governing class of elites claiming to know best.
This class of individuals, out of a well intended, yet perversely distorted sense of civic duty and public service, take it upon themselves to rule over the ignorant masses. If there were any question as to whether or not Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump represent the governing class who believe you and I are a part of the ignorant masses they feel compelled to rule over, look at their own words:
“I alone can fix it”-Donald J. Trump
“Now some of those folks, they are irredeemable, but thankfully they are not America.”-Hillary Clinton
Trump sees America and its citizens as something he, and he alone, can fix on our behalf. He remembers when America was great, and lucky for us, he possesses the ability to take us back there.
Hillary has such little respect for the Americans who, for no other reason than their preference for her opponent, are irredeemable. As if that were not enough of a disqualification, she feels entitled to decide which of us are and are not a part of America. Again, we should be so lucky she is here to save us from our deplorable neighbors…
Hillary, when asked why she wasn’t leading the polls by 50 points, was utterly baffled and in admitting so, exposed just how certain she is that she knows best for each one of us. Make no mistake, she could be leading by 50 points if she had only taken the time to listen to President Obama’s speech at her nominating convention when he said,
“We (Americans) don’t look to be ruled”
In my opinion those words, more so than any other spoken during this election, perfectly encapsulate what it means to be an American.
The desire to rule ourselves is the sentiment our 240 year old country was birthed in. When the brave American revolutionaries decided the right to rule themselves was a fight worthy of death, they forever imprinted self-rule upon the soul of each American born thereafter.
Which brings me back to the choice each of us face on November 8. I am a Libertarian and I say that without apology or a desire to influence your vote for President. Two term New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson is my party’s nominee and I will not lie to you about his chance of winning, he will not. I may disagree with how he presents libertarianism, his campaign’s strategy, and his message to an American electorate desperately searching for an alternative to Trump and Hillary, but I will tell you this, he is as honest and as accomplished of an individual as you will ever meet.
He is completely capable of handling the office of the President, and should you choose to support him with your vote, you will never have to worry that your vote was wasted or that somehow your refusal to vote against the two major party candidates allowed the other side to win.
A vote for Gary Johnson is a vote for the qualified executive with a track record of verifiable success and a governing philosophy that most closely resembles the shared American desire of the right to rule ourselves. In every sense, Gary Johnson is a great American and patriot. If only due to his unflinching belief that you are best suited to decide how to live your life, so long as it does not harm or prevent my right to live mine.
Even though your vote may not propel Gary Johnson to the Presidency, it will be a warning shot to those who believe they know best. That shot will be the necessary reminder that their days are numbered and America’s time for choosing is here. We do not look to be ruled, we are the rulers.
No longer will we tolerate the lesser of two evils and the tired policies they peddle which have lead us to this time for choosing. This election has lacked substance and vision. Trump’s vision is backwards and Hillary’s is a repeat of the last 8 years.
8 years of gridlock and kicking the can down the road to the next person. Part of what makes America so incredible is its ability to handle dire circumstances like economic depression and the rise evil ideologies like Hitler’s national socialism. We adapt and defeat, we do not ignore and avoid. We are a county of action that creates the future rather than accepting it.
If you want to see what Hillary’s vision is, look at Japan. Economic stagnation, debt, and the creeping realization in the mind of each citizen that their best days are behind them. Each of you reading that should be gagging at the thought of such a bleak future because as an American, the second most universally shared belief behind the right to rule ourselves, is the belief the future is ours for the making and while yet to be written, it is shining off in the horizon as we will it into creation.
My name is on no ballot, nor should it be. But in the absence of a compelling vision for our shared future by any candidate in this election, here is the one I believe each of us deserve.
When I look at America I see a people so thirsty for leadership, they’ll drink the sand from the mirage of Making America Great Again.
I see a people so tired of gridlock and unfulfilled promises, they’ve grown apathetic of their right to vote.
I see a people desperate for new answers to old problems, they are finally willing to support a third party candidate just enough that he nearly made the Presidential debates. THAT is why I’m a Libertarian and you should vote for one on election day. Your growing support for new answers gives me great hope that in our time for choosing, the choice will be ours and not the powers that be in the Democratic and Republican parties.
Libertarianism is an idea whose time has come and one most closely resembling our shared belief in the right to rule ourselves.
We can end the drug war and the devastating effect it has had on urban communities. We can heal the broken bond between citizens and law enforcement officers.
We can stop funding endless middle eastern wars where you and I enable the killing of innocent women and children whose only crime was being born into a Hellish situation.
We can stop propping up genocidal dictators with foreign aid who are favorable to our interests and start spending that money on our children here.
Would you rather kill an innocent Syrian 8 year old or put an iPad in your child’s hand with the most advanced educational software available?
Will we allow the slow descent into economic decline and adjust our expectations downward or will we reinvigorate our economy and grow ourselves out of the slavery of our debt burden?
Will we accept our fate or invent the one within our grasp?
This is America’s time for choosing. It is time to choose whether you wish to be ruled or rule yourself.
It is time to choose whether or not the lives of the brave men and women who came before us and offered the choice of self-rule, in the face of certain treasonous death, will be honored with your vote on election day.
Some reading this may not be ready to “switch sides” and vote for Gary Johnson, even though they have little stomach for Trump or Hillary.
That is okay. You may never become a Libertarian and that is fine as well.
But when you step in that election booth and hold your nose, or you complain to friends about having to decide between the two major party candidates, know that there are brave individuals out there still fighting for our foundational and universally shared belief that every American voter has the right to live their life in the manner they so choose.
I assure you, we will not quit regardless of your willingness to be ruled by Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton. We are patriots.
We are THE great Americans.
We are the torch bearers of America’s founding ideals and because of that, will continue to uphold your right to life, liberty, and our shared pursuit of happiness.
We are the ones who have decided you are worth it, regardless of your willingness to say the same. No matter how dark the day, nor how insurmountable the opponent, we would rather die standing up, than live on our knees. Why?
THAT belief, is what America was founded upon and that is why at America’s time for choosing, we will choose Libertarian.
A choice, an idea, and a moment in our nation’s history whose time have come.
