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The Lesser of Two Evils
by Sean Gangol
RGangol@sbcglobal.net

Special to The Libertarian Enterprise

When I first started writing this article, it was the beginning of January and Ron Paul was still running in the primaries. Unfortunately, I never got to finish the article because I was attending college and I had four classes that were writing intensive. This article was originally going to be about Libertarians who refused to support Ron Paul. When I started the article, I wrote harshly of those who didn't warm up to the congressman from Texas. Now it seems like a mute point.

At the time I began to write this article, I felt that Ron Paul was the best shot we had to set things right. Paul was the only candidate who seemed to understand basic economics. He was the only one who actually seemed serious about getting our troops out of Iraq. He was also the only one who seemed to believe in the constitution. Paul was such a big believer in nonintervention that he once tried to pass a bill to get America out of the United Nations.

In all fairness, I do have my own differences with Ron Paul. One of those differences is abortion. I have always believed that whatever a woman does to her own body is her business and nobody else's. Interference would be a violation of the Nonaggression Principal. I was willing to put that difference aside because I believed that there are bigger issues to be concerned with. Besides, Ron Paul seemed more interested in allowing the states to restrict abortion, instead of passing a national ban.

I also disagreed with his plans to keep illegal aliens from crossing the boarder. I will admit I am more of a moderate on the issue of immigration. I don't like illegal immigrants coming down here with a sense of entitlement. At the same time I am sympathetic to those who come here to work hard and make a life for themselves. I do believe that trying to keep illegal immigrants from entering the United States is pointless. Trying to keep a determined group of people out of the country is a waste of resources and it will accomplish nothing. That was another issue that I was willing to put aside.

Not that any of this matters now, because once again our choices have been narrowed down to a leftist or a neocon. As usual there is about a dime's worth of difference between the current candidates. On the left, we have Obama. He has yet to see an anti-gun bill that he didn't like. He also believes that the expansion of government power and higher taxes is the solution to everything.

Let us not forget McCain, our favorite wolf in sheep's clothing. His Campaign Finance Reform helped restrict free speech by silencing all watchdog organizations during election time. McCain also plans to follow in the footsteps of the Bush administration by keeping our troops in Iraq, even if it takes a hundred years to establish peace. Obama doesn't seem to have an exit strategy either. Nor does he seem to have any plans to undo the measures taken by the Bush administration.

Our choices are basically not that different from what we have had in the last eight years. One of our choices is an economically retarded, gun hating, nanny state loving leftist, who will do whatever he can to make sure our healthcare is worse then it is currently. Our other choice is neocon that is also economically retarded and a gun hater (even though he claims not to be). The only difference between him and Obama is that he will probably put more emphasis on making America into a warfare state, not so different from what Bush has done. McCain will most likely continue to spy on the American people, while making sure the use of torture remains legit.

Basically our only choice is between what the South Park kids would call a Duce and Turd Sandwich. We could vote for a third party, but that is almost the same as not voting. A third party candidate has a better chance winning a gold medial in women's figure skating then ever becoming president. Besides, the Libertarian Party hasn't given us much of a choice either. One of the candidates is Bob Barr. The same Bob Barr who supported the war on drugs and opposed the use of medical Marijuana. Let us not forget that he also voted for the "Patriot Act" and supported the war in Iraq. Barr even believed in outlawing the practice of Wicca in the military. Barr has supposedly changed his stance on these issues; however I have hard time believing that this neo-con has repented and become a die-hard Libertarian.

From the looks of our choices, it is clear that things are not going to change anytime soon. We will continue to fight undeclared wars and our troops will continue to die in third world hell holes. The government will continue to chip away at our civil liberties. They will continue to treat the Constitution like toilet paper. We may end up with more government intervention in healthcare, which will make it go from second rate to third rate. That is the downside of our two party system. We have about as much choice in this system as a shopper in a Russian supermarket.

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