Why I voted for Gary Johnson

[4est_4est_Gump]

Did I say Democrat?


I meant Progressive-Socialist-Fabian...

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

After graduating from Columbia University with a degree in political science, Obama briefly worked in New York City, purportedly as a financial consultant (hard to believe, considering his political science degree and the fact that he is mathematically challenged, but that is what he has claimed).

In 1985, he moved to Chicago to begin work as community organizer (which makes far more sense with his degree in political science and his political leanings). Saul Alinsky, the infamous Chicago activist, defines community organizing as the ability "to rub raw the resentments of the community." By all accounts, Obama did (and continues to do) just that, so in this role, he was obviously successful. For three and a half years, Obama worked in various capacities as a community organizer, mostly tackling community projects and voter registration efforts via Project Vote, a group with ties to the corrupt, disgraced, and now defunct (actually morphed) ACORN. By all accounts, he was adept at bringing people together -- at least folks who were already like-minded with a common cause.

In his quest for political power and a bigger impact, Obama left Chicago for Harvard Law School. After graduation, he returned to Chicago and joined a small civil rights law firm as a junior associate and stayed there for four years. The most notable case he worked on was defending the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) against Citibank. The CRA, a liberal dream enacted by Jimmy Carter and strengthened by Bill Clinton, with its push for lowered standards for minority borrowers (a financial affirmative action, if you will), has been widely credited for being the catalyst igniting the housing and financial crisis of 2008. This is the sum total of Obama's private-sector experience.

In 1996, Obama ran for the Illinois State Senate, and after he defeated a couple of opponents when sealed divorce records were mysteriously leaked (imagine that!), his public career was launched. He voted "present" 129 times in the Illinois legislature. Voting present is the Illinois way of expressing opposition to something while shielding yourself from any political fallout.

In 2004, Obama was elected to the U.S. Senate. It has been reported that while in the U.S. Senate, Obama missed 314 of 1,300 votes (24%, compared to a median among his peers of 2.4%, per GovTrack.us). When Obama did vote, his votes were deemed "far-left Democrat."

In 2008, running on a platform of "hope and change," he was elected president of the United States. He has had four years in office, so we need only look at the current environment to assess his performance in that role. Statistically speaking, he has performed much worse than any president on record. His signature achievement, ObamaCare, was passed in a stealth and partisan fashion, and it carries the disapproval of more than 70% of the public.

How does Romney compare?

Graduating from Harvard in 1975 with a joint JD/MBA degree, he went into management consulting and, in 1977, secured a position with Bain & Company. There he helped lead the company out of financial crisis. In 1984, he cofounded and led as its CEO a spinoff of Bain & Company called Bain Capital, a private-equity firm. Having achieved average returns of 88% per year by investing in young or distressed companies, Bain Capital became one of the largest and most profitable firms of its kind.

In 1999, Romney was hired as President and CEO of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee for the 2002 Winter Olympics. When he came on board, the event was besieged with corruption allegations and was far short of the funds needed to break even. Under Romney's leadership, the event concluded with a profit of $120 million. This experience was a nice transition from the private to the public sector, as it contained elements of both.

In 2002, Romney officially went into public service when he was elected governor of Massachusetts. At that time, the state was in financial disarray, with high unemployment and a huge spending problem (sound familiar?). Romney worked across the aisle, with a mostly Democratic legislature, to reverse these problems. By the time he left office in 2007, he had eliminated a $3-billion deficit without borrowing or increasing taxes, primarily through gains in jobs (and thereby increasing the tax base) and government efficiency.

Soon thereafter, Romney decided to run for the presidency, which brings us to the current 2012 presidential race.

http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/11/the_class_of_the_race.html

 

[Sean Renaud]

No, that is just the usual Democrat wish list of things that they think work in their favor.

A third party needs no more than a solid underlying philosophy and the internet.

The problem for Libertarians, is that not unlike the two big parties that they have such a variety of thought not based in any philosophy that they are not united in any way. Too many of them want no government when it comes to their social proclivity, but lots of government on the "Big Causes" of the day. Karen Armstrong (Holy Wars) is right, you can take the Christianity out of our culture, but you cannot remove the clarion calls to crusade.

No. It's a simple fact. Nobody can safely afford to vote third party until a vote for a third party isn't throwing away your vote. That's why the two big parties are made up of groups that have no business associating but have forged an alliance against the other guys. It's the only way winner take all can work.

 

[Peregrinator]

Been refuted. By Bertrand Russell. In political theory, that is. His metaphysics were refuted much longer ago, by Aristotle.

Are you out of your mind? This post is nearly incredible.