My Vote For President Of The United States

President Barack Obama has been re-elected and won by a significant margin. Would my vote have mattered? Not at all. But for the sake of discussion, let’s discuss it. When it came down to my vote, there were a number of logical directions. Definitely out of the picture was President Obama himself, as well as Green candidate Jill Stein. As a Republican, perhaps the “lesser of two evils” argument could be convincing enough for Governor Mitt Romney. As a libertarian, the possibility of the 5% threshold could be convincing enough for former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson. Or even as a Ron Paul supporter, the write-in space could be utilized for the Texas Congressman himself. It was a difficult decision.

For weeks, the thought process was endless. Voting for Romney very well could be worth it just for stopping President Obama, and for a while, it was a convincing thought within my own head. But the more I thought about it, the more my principles got in the way.

What’s the next logical step? Gary Johnson could work. The Libertarian Party of Maine is rebuilding after years of minimal activity, and has solid leadership under Chairman Jorge Maderal. The only problem is a number of conflicts with Johnson himself. Johnson is solid on fiscal matters, but on some views, there are some troubling points that got in the way.

Since long before opening day of the Republican primaries, myself and many others in the Ron Paul grassroots were hard at work. A grassroots structure was in place, coordinating efforts to promote through sign waves and other education methods, long before Ron Paul even began formally considering a bid. The Ron Paul state campaign, led by Ryan Flowers, would come to Maine and assist the grassroots in delegate recruitment and organization going into the caucuses. A hard, long fight would result in incredible gains.

This hard work was defeated in the end and that would have been fine, had the defeat been fair. But it was not. The Romney campaign had their reliable State chairman Peter Cianchette lead a delegation challenge alongside sore loser Jan Staples, which would divide the party at the launch of the general election. The lawyers for the campaign would then hijack the Republican Party at the National Convention, seizing control of the nomination process and ensuring nobody “think outside the box” anymore.

Inside the Republican Party, one thing has become clear: People are to shut up and tow the party line. Charlie Webster didn’t tolerate the legitimate questions of his failing operation after the February caucuses, which we a disaster. He slammed the concerned party members and attacked the new activists who had been wronged, calling them names such as “wing nuts.” What kind of leadership is this?

Now after this, and everything else discussed recently on my blog, the Republican Party has lost. They lost not by one vote, or two. They d didn’t even lose because everyone went third party. Even with the third party votes, the Republican Party, like in 2008, still would have gotten crush. It’s time for the leadership to stop hiding behind the third party excuse and admit there is a very serious problem within.

Tuesday afternoon, I approached the enclosed booth with my ballot in hand. A decision had to be made. Would I vote for Mitt Romney, a candidate I disagree with on a number of issues and was at heart, really just the status quo? Would I vote for Gary Johnson, a candidate who was not a pure libertarian at heart, but could lead the Libertarian Party to 5%? Would I write-in Ron Paul and help make a statement against the Republican Party establishment that discarded all the hard work myself and fellow supporters put in?

The decision I made would be…

Write-in Congressman Ron Paul.

Chris Dixon

About Chris Dixon

Chris Dixon is a libertarian-leaning writer and managing editor for The Liberty Conservative. In addition to his political writing, he also covers baseball for Cleat Geeks and enjoys writing on a number of other topics ranging on Medium.