A relative who I respect more than any other told me yesterday that he actually is in agreement to me with my political views. He’s a hardcore liberal who loved Clinton because the stock market did so well. But now he is realizing that he really didn’t earn much value even though his wages, investments and property values skyrocketed — he realizes he isn’t that much wealthier than he was before the booms. He is thriftier than ever, and he sees that the money he’s saved for decades might not last the rest of his life, even though he is one of the thriftiest people I know.

It was with great shock that I accepted that he agrees with the libertarians, but he made an interesting point: he now prefers smaller government, but he is more afraid of continuing warmongering in the world than with freedom. He would rather vote for Hilary or Barack than “throw away a vote” on a libertarian candidate. I personally don’t support any candidate on any platform. I vote for the best person I know for every elected position — I vote for myself. I recommend everyone does it, especially all of you who don’t vote. Go out and register, and write your own name in for every election seat. As more people do this, the vote totals are more skewed to “None of the Above” or “Other” than for either party of evil.

I am taking a moment, though, to endorse Republican Presidential Candidate Ron Paul of Texas. As many know, he ran for Libertarian Party President in 1988 and did terribly. Third parties can’t compete because they can’t enter the debates. But Ron Paul is an elected federal Congressman, running as a Republican even though he is a Libertarian at heart. He votes Constitutionally, and supports a significant decrease in the size of the Federal government — something we all should support in theory.

So there is it — I endorse Ron Paul for President. But I won’t vote for him. Even though he is a wonderful Libertarian, he is still too statist for me. Ron Paul takes no sides on the abortion debate — he is pro-life, but he understands that the U.S. Constitution leaves Congress NO power to enact legislation. This is how it should be. He is against the police state, he is against all undeclared wars, he is against taxes, he is even against paper dollars and would prefer a return to the gold standard. He sounds like a dream come true! But Ron Paul is anti-immigration, and he still supports a small variety of Statist measures. Love the guy, love his thoughts, but my belief in only voting for myself is stronger than my belief that a President can really make a difference.

Here’s the way I think others should play it, if they’re going to vote:

1. If you are going to vote and want MORE freedom, only vote for yourself. Vote “NO” to all judge retentions, and vote against any bond issues.
2. If you won’t vote for yourself, vote Ron Paul for President. Skip everyone else, and vote “NO” to all judge retentions. Vote against any bond issues.
3. If you must vote for every office, why are you reading this site?

Take 7 minutes and watch Ron Paul’s YouTube video on why he is running for President. He says some really insightful things, and there is no doublespeak in his message. I appreciate the guy. I plan on spending a good portion of FreedomFest 2007 talking to him — and I know he always listens, too. I’ve met him at a few conventions and I’m always blown away that this federal Congressman spends time listening to me speak to the small crowds and groups I challenge in liberty.

If you must vote, please vote for yourself. If you can’t appreciate why this is the most pro-Freedom way to vote, vote for Ron Paul. If you can’t do that, you are just voting for candidates (in both parties) who want to continue to steal your money, steal your time, steal your freedom, and steal your future from yourself and your family and friends.

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So yesterday came and went with a lot of media attention, but it wasn’t until today that I really spent a few minutes figuring out what all the hoopla really is about. The vote is over, millions wasted a few hours getting to the polling booth and back, and the end result doesn’t matter no matter which side won a specific seat: my wallet will be thinner.

I didn’t see anyone running on a “downsize government” platform. There were no promises to significantly reduce taxes and the size of government, both which are necessary to truly make my wallet a little fatter. Everyone was running on campaign promises that would require money to come from somewhere in order to add more employees to the government dole, or to transfer more wealth from those who seem to have it to those who seem to not have it.

Most of my friends and family voted and felt like they voted their conscience. I’ll picture those I love snagging a few bucks out of my wallet without my permission, as I usually do. I’ll work hard, but those with the power of the majority behind them will work less to gain more. I won’t have a choice — I have to pay for the results of the vote.

I’m not sure exactly what people hoped the outcome was.

The Democrats were hoping for more laws providing for equality across the board (forced equality but really no standard for what level is really equal). They were hoping for less war, even though more Democrats support war in order to get Republicans to support welfare.

The Republicans want more war, or at least more support for the legal killers in other regions. They will happily give in to the welfare State in order to get more war support.

They aren’t different parties, they aren’t even battling each other. In order to get what they want, they give in to what they don’t want. Your wallet gets thinner. Your freedom to work, to worship, to entertain and to be left alone is diminished. Some will say that they had to steal from you because you weren’t giving enough to the poor. Others will say they had to steal from you because you weren’t giving enough to defend your land. They won’t ask if the reason you weren’t giving enough is because so much is stolen from you already — they think the problem is that not enough is stolen from you, not that you aren’t giving enough.

More will be stolen from all of us now, and that means that more will have to be stolen since we will have even less to work with. The slippery slope is long behind us, we’ve been sliding into the abyss for almost a century. But people will wear their “I robbed you” stickers this week, more people will be self-congratulary that they will be able to steal more than is stolen from them. More people will have more reason to be irresponsible with their actions and charity since they’ll have someone else to push that responsibility onto.

It is unfortunate that that is how it is, and that is how it will be. I have no choice since it isn’t the majority that has decided — it is almost everyone that chose forced responsibility rather than true responsibility. Freedom doesn’t come from government, from troops, from wars, from laws, from equality or from the vote. Freedom comes from making the decision to take care of yourself today so you can take care of yourself tomorrow. From the vote totals, I can see that most Americans would rather not be responsible — they’d rather rely on forcing others to take care of them.

Discuss this article at the anarcho-capitalism forum.