"None of the above" has my vote

While I was surfing aound this morning, I came across an interesting piece by Stephen Green of Vodkapundit, who was wrinting at Pajamas Media. It was entitled "I Was a Card-Carrying Libertarian: Confessions of a Black Sheep Republican."

What caught my attention was the sub which reads:"It’s hard to remain a Libertarian in the post-9/11 era, bemoans Stephen Green of Vodkapundit, who has officially stopped trying to change the world “one losing candidate at a time.”"

I was immediately reminded of my wish that every ballot would have a place to vote for "none of the above." With due respect to Libertarians, I have often used their candidate for that, knowing they could not win. Occasionally, someone else provides a grand opportunity to do that, as in the case of Kinky Friedman in our last Governor's election. He got my vote.

My tour through the political wasteland has not been quite the same as Mr. Green's, but with similar results.

My Dad was a Democrat when I was growing up, but was not politically active except for 1958, when he agreed to be "Honorary Campaign Chairman" for Speaker of the House Waggoner Carr when he ran for Attorney General. That was my first introduction to elective politics, I got involved, and loved it. In 1968, I was elected to office as a Democrat. I was very active in statewide campaigns as a Democrat all through the 1960s and 1970s. I was involved in political meetings at the highest levels in my home state and in Washington, and could have remained so had I chosen to.

Jimmy Carter, among other things, did me in. The Democratic Party had moved so far to the left during the 1970s that I could no longer conscientiously remain in the party. So I switched in 1979.

I remained active politically, but not in any important way at the state or national levels. All my friends and contacts at those levels were Democrats. We remained friends, but I did not take part in any of the politics.

In 1988, I was elected to another office as a Republican, and served for another 18 years before I retired. My service there did not permit me to be acive in politics except at the party level, and I did not participate at all during that period.

Like all Republicans, I was delighted to see the party get control of Congress in 1994, and had great hopes that they would make changes in the culture in Washington, and make policies that were more sensible. Those hopes were soon dashed.

Republicans quickly moved to start slopping at the trough. Pork barrel spending grew to record levels, with nary a peep from our Republican President. The earmarks expanded exponentially, with little or no restraint. The Republicans were acting like Democrats, except worse. So the public gave Congress back to the Democrats, who campaigned against the "culture of corruption" which certainly did exist. Did this change anything? Of course not. The only thing that changed were the names of the corrupt.

Republicans also gained control of our Legislature recently. I was concerned about the new Speaker that was elected. My trepidations have been proved right. Our legislature is now controlled by a few "big money" donors, and has proved that they cannot govern well, if at all. It appears that the legislation is written by the big money lobby. It's a real shame.


Where does one go now? "None of the above" is not on the ballot. We are left with having to vote for the lesser of two evils. The idealism of my youth has been smashed by the reality of current politics. What about our kids, and their kids?

Disgusting.