Election 2008

Reason Magazine did something for the 2004 election where they asked some libertarian thinkers how they planned to vote, how they voted in 2000 and they're most embarrassing vote.  I liked the idea and decided to do my version for the 2008 election.  Please add comments indicating your choices and explanations.

2008:  Bob Barr; I'm not a Bob Barr fan in general, but I committed early in the election season to vote libertarian.  My intention in voting libertarian is to put my vote behind the ideas I support and hope that in the future more minor parties can gain more support to challenge the current system.  Jello Biafra described our country as "...a one party state masquerading as a two party state."  I've decided that voting for expediency is pointless, because every election some how gets painted as being vitally important.  If Ron Paul had made the ticket, voting Republican might be somewhat appealing.

2004:  Ralph Nader;  This was a throw away vote I admit, but I was in Utah and my vote didn't count anyway (not that it really counts in California right now).  I couldn't stomach 4 more years of Bush, I felt the Iraq conflict was a mistake from the start; I didn't feel any real love for Kerry either.  I maybe could have voted for Kerry if he'd had a different running mate.  Edwards is a big turn off for me.  I always felt he was trying to sell me something I didn't need; plus there were the comments about Cheney's lesbo daughter that I thought were pretty lame.

2000:  George W. Bush;  What was I thinking.  I guess I felt I needed to be a good republican for some reason.  I'm not so sure we can blame 9/11 on him.  If Gore would have been in the White House, the same event would have taken place.  The aftermath would have been different, although I doubt he would have kept us out of war entirely.  I think Dem or Rep in office and we'd be in trouble somewhere when it comes to terrorism.  The elected officials always have to look like they are doing something important.  Bush didn't earn a second term, but unfortunately he's more telegenic than Gore and Kerry combined.  It's the same reason I think that Obama will ultimately win in the end.

Most Embarrassing Vote:  See above.  That was the first time I got to vote; It probably should have turned me off to voting forever.  As more of a kick in the pants, I was an absentee ballot from Florida.  I do remember my mom telling me to vote Republican all the way down the ballot.  I don't think I did.  I probably only should have voted for president, since I was completely uninformed about any of the other candidates for the remaining offices.

I do have an observation about the current election, or at least the media's coverage of it.  This may sound sacrilegious, but it's not intended to be so.  It seems with the two candidates, the media is painting them as two different versions of Jesus from the Bible.  It's true that you probably need a bit of a messiah-complex to be a viable candidate for president.  It's almost like McCain being 'roughed-up' (tortured) is his version of Gethsemane where he suffered for our country.  Obama on the other hand is being portrayed as the messiah making his triumphant return.  You can listen to Dan Carlin's analysis here (it's an hour long, just FYI).  Personally, I think we'll still get the same old song and dance no matter who gets into office.  We don't seem to really have a political system where actually standing for something means getting re-elected.