My first vote was in 1966 for the Republican nominee for Governor of California, Ronald Reagan. I’ve never voted for any other party’s candidate. I’ve voted for Birchers, RINO’s, and everything in between. But this year I’m voting Libertarian.
I was 19 when I was elected Chairman of the UC Berkeley Young Republicans, and was active in the Party until 2001, when Babbie and I moved back to California. Politically, I’m libertarian, but was never interested in the Libertarian Party. We have a two party system in this country, and the Republican Party and Democrat Party, working as a team, have made third parties a pipe dream, and that’s not going to change. I was always a libertarian working within the GOP to attain my political goals, and expect to do so again in 2020. But this is the year to vote, just once, for the Libertarian, as a matter of principle. It may help elect Clinton, but I won’t feel one whit of responsibility. The Republican Party left me, I didn’t leave it.
If you like long shots, here’s one for you. The Libertarian makes the central emphasis of his campaign in the Far West the Transfer of Public Lands (TPL), and wins their electoral votes. That’s all he talks about. He explains the issue. Most people, even those who live in urban areas of the Far West, don’t know a thing about it. And the case, especially when made to the people who live there, is overwhelming. Politically, it’s a no brainer.
Generally speaking, voters in the Far West don’t like Clinton, at all. And this was Trump’s weakest part of the country. Cruz absolutely crushed him in some of these states. And the issue of TPL was barely raised.
The thing is, a vote for the Libertarian in Alaska, or Utah, or Oregon, isn’t just some protest vote. You’re voting for something — your land. You want your state’s electoral votes to be awarded to the candidate who campaigned on a promise to transfer it to you. That’s not a protest, that’s a demand. If you want these electoral votes in a Presidential election, tell us we get our land. We’ll prove it to you in 2016, and we’ll do it again in 2020 unless we’re told we get our land.
This is a form of secession, Electoral College Secession. And if enough electoral votes are won by the Libertarian, and the election is thrown into the House, the people of the Far West will demand that their state’s representatives in the House vote only for a candidate who promises to give them their land.
This choice between Clinton and Trump is unacceptable. But let’s at least try to make an omelet of this dog’s breakfast. And that’s what’s involved in throwing an election into the House. It’s only happened once, and the outcome was unexpected. Anything can happen. If Clinton wins Wisconsin, what does the five member Republican majority of the Wisconsin House membership do? They’re Republicans, but their state voted for Clinton. Maybe they vote for who they think ought to be President. Who knows?
It would a fitting finale to a tumultuous year.
So the TPL Electoral College Secession campaign is underway. I will try to sell this to the Libertarian candidate for Senate in Alaska, who I began a Facebook conversation with today. I don’t do Facebook a lot, but I guess it’s as good as email. She seems like a very well informed woman, who thoroughly understands TPL. The campaign is on!
I remember hearing about these Libertarian Party Conventions, which were crazy. These people love standing on principle, but only on their principle. They take a real strong stand on a lot of things, and fight over the least thing. I think some of them enjoy it all, the arguing and standing on principle. It’s a way to get things out of your system, I guess.
After I got elected chairman of the YR’s at Cal, I used to go to the quarterly meetings of the California Young Republican College Federation. Talk about a mouthful. We had meetings all over the state. We all drank more beer than we stood on principle. We all got together and had a picture taken of us standing behind a big banner that read “Fuck Communism”.
I had a lot of fun in the YR’s.
reaganproject.com 