THE LIBERTARIANS--

I am now a card carrying member of the Libertarian Party.

The Libertarian Party is America's third largest political party, founded in 1971 as an alternative to the two main political parties.

At my age and having recently been through the fiasco of Taft’s GOP gubernatorial occupation of our statehouse and the absolute shame of what passes for representative democracy in our nation’s capital these days, I’ve had enough.

Frankly, the objective of both main parties is simply to win elections then do all that is possible to be reelected. Any good government that occurs in that process is purely coincidental.

We have a toxic stew in Washington DC of an entrenched bureaucracy, an occupying army of lobbyists, with an electorate that has learned it can vote itself the largess of the public treasury, all wrapped in a political culture that is trashing our country.

Over recent years I’ve taken those tests that go around from time to time which seek to determine what party you should be affiliated with. Guess where my placement has been consistently? Yup. Libertarian.

If you are really curious about what they stand for take a peek here:  http://www.lp.org/platform

Pondering that platform makes me feel like I’ve enjoyed a breath of fresh air.

Are the Libertarians likely to fix this mess?

No; at least not in my lifetime.

But I feel better.

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Now, here’s what this really means as an elector.

In Ohio your party affiliation is determined by the partisan ballot you ask for and vote in the primary elections. I’ve been a conservative Republican for about a zillion years. A primary is a nominating election—where each party chooses its candidates for the general election ballot.

I will continue to vote in the Republican primary until such time the Libertarians field enough candidates where my voting their primary ballot would be meaningful.

Then, like all voters, each of us may vote for whomever we choose in the general election.

For the record, I’ve already voted absentee. I cast votes for two Libertarians, one Democrat and the rest Republicans, where I chose to vote at all.

(A clue to how I cast my votes can be seen in my pictured display of yard signs including those which are conspicuous by their absence.)  Remember:  you can click on the photo and see a larger view.