I'm announcing my support (or... "Just say no to the Nuclear Option")

Let me start by saying this. I support the Libertarian Party Nominee for President of the United States of America, no matter who he or she may be.

Bob Barr, Mary Ruwart, George Phillies, Wayne Root...

Hell, I don't even care if we end up nominating Starchild. Our nominee will be my nominee, and I'll vote for them in the November. I'll work to make sure that our candidate gets on the ballot.

Now, I'm sure I'll be more enthusiastic about some candidates than others. Some may out and out suck. But it's my party and that's the price I pay for getting to work in a group of people. Not everyone agrees on everything. And therefore you have to suck it up if things don't always go your way.

Now some people in the party have expressed that if so and so candidate is elected, they'll leave the party. I've heard it from supporters for several different candidates, including ones you wouldn't expect. I call this the "I'm taking my ball and going home" threat.

I'm saddened to see such a tactic. It's a "my way or the highway" stand that demands everyone else in a group bend to their will, when they themselves won't do it.

A cynical way to look at such a threat is, if carried out it would be that such individuals were never really going to be much help anyway. A more mean spirited response would be to tell such people to not let the door hit them on the way out.

But as I said, I just find it sad.


But There's something worse than that out there...


I've heard a few people talk about using state party rules or state election laws to keep the nominee off the ballot, if the nominee is not to their liking.

This defeats the whole purpose of having the convention. We're supposed to make a choice then move on. In a year when the LP is getting more attention for it's presidential nomination race than ever, such actions would be a disaster. I call this the Nuclear Option.

I'd like to think that such actions are only being talked about by only a few individuals. That nothing shall come of this.

But I hear enough "this will tear the party apart" fears from people who are threatening to do the tearing, that I worry. It's as if they want to blow the party up if they don't get their way.

This must be a side effect of running into a Hare Krishna on 16th street yesterday, but I feel that the real threat to the LP is not any given candidate, but the anger, fear and hatred that some are stirring up over this nomination contest.

This is why I made the statement at the start of this posting. I can't control the negativity of others. I can only control my own actions, and I choose to do something positive.

I hope others will join me in this and pledge their support to the eventual nominee.

If not, I recommend that people choose to invest their efforts in supporting down-ticket campaigns, ballot initiatives and projects that they do believe in and support.

I'm still weighing in on how I'm going to vote. The only difference is I'm now reconsidering "None of the Above" as an option.

(I'm now waiting for the inevitable backlash...

THIS is how I spend my vacation???... *sigh* the things I do for my party...)