What's Your Breaking Point

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With election day just a week away I thought I would ask, "What's your breaking point?" Everywhere I look, even my beloved NPR, there are only two sides to this election. While listening to NPR yesterday they had 2 people who were pro Obama and two people who were pro McCain on. Its as if there isn't anyone else to vote for. ...

The truth is, there are other people to vote for. People, by nature, don't like to rock the boat (too much) and so voting outside of the 2 main stream candidates doesn't even occur to most people. While there are some good reasons to respect both Barack Obama and John McCain, I have a feeling many people are looking at their mainstream candidates through rose colored glasses.

The economy is big. What is your candidates stand? The Iraq war is big. What plans does your candidate have? Are they inline with your ideals? There are other big issues, health care, domestic spying, drilling for oil, nuclear power, privatization, gas prices and standing behind personal principles. You may be suprised by what you see from your candidate if you actually look.

With that in mind there is a website called What's Your Breaking Point that checks your candidate versus your uncompromisable values. Check it out and see if they match. Even if you have already voted, its fairly educational.

After you are done here are some other candidates to look at:
Cynthia McKinney - Green Party
Ralph Nader - Independent ( with some help )
Chuck Baldwin - Constitution Party
Bob Barr - Libertarian Party

You also might want to check out who you really match up with at glass booth.
The previous picture used from lifehacker without permission and does not represent my results.

The next debate

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While some people may be focusing on the major party debate tonight, I think I've had enough. I'll still watch tonights debate, at some point, but after the second presidential debate I have a feeling it will be more of the same. Pre-planned stump speeches that I have heard time and again.

Since I'm a fan of alternative parties, I am happy to say that there will be a debate this Sunday between 3 of the 4 candidates who also have their names on enough ballots to have a chance at the White House. Independent candidate Ralph Nader, Green Party candidate Cynthia McKinney and the Constitution Party's Chuck Baldwin will all be on stage at Columbia University in New York. The Libertarian Party candidate, Bob Barr has a scheduling conflict but debate organizers said he only wants to debate Ralph Nader.

According to Third Party Ticket the debate will be broadcast online via Break The Matrix and possibly other internet venues Sunday, October 19th from 7PM to 9PM EST. The Miami Herald article I read said that the moderator will be Amy Goodman, host of Democracy Now! and recent winner of the Right Livelihood Award, also known as the alternative Nobel.

I recommend everyone watch these debates, even if you are an Obama-Mama( Dad's too :) ) or a McCainanite. If you haven't heard these candidates talk you will hear fresh perspectives that may inspire you to action. Once we are aware of the alternative, we can all help the major candidates see them as well.

Ron Paul, Minor Party Candidates and the 2008 Election

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Yesterday I posted a video from CNN that had Ron Paul and Ralph Nader talking about the 4 points agreement made by the candidates of the Green, Libertarian and Constitution parties as well as Ralph Nader. Well C-Span has a video of the press conference available for viewing online. Unfortunately, I could not figure out a way to embed it in my blog.

An interesting news story about this press conference is that Bob Barr didn't show up. Evidently there are two reasons why. One, he didn't want to dilute his personal message by being on the same stage as Cynthia McKinney. The other being that he thinks Ron Paul should choose to support just one candidate, not four. More specifically he wants Dr. Paul to endorse him. He has also requested Ron Paul to be his running mate even though he doesn't expect Dr. Paul to accept.

Of course, the purpose of this press conference was to change the system. Get minor party candidates with varying beliefs to agree on something ( 4 major points ), that the major parties are not talking about and don't agree with.

This announcement of agreement was made just in time for the Lou Dobbs Independent Convention that will be happening today. I'm not sure if all of the 4 candidates will be on the show but I know that Ralph Nader will be on and I'm fairly certain Ron Paul will be there as well.

I'm not a Libertarian

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This past weekend was the Libertarian Party's National Convention where they chose who their candidate for President and Vice President would be. On Saturday evening I was lucky enough to be changing channels and I caught the Libertarian Presidential Candidate debate. I was able to watch it from the beginning to the end. All in all I was impressed, but I'm also very clear that I am not a Libertarian. ...

I love the basic premise of the Libertarian Party.

Libertarians believe in, and pursue, personal freedom while maintaining personal responsibility.

On that basic premise I can agree with Libertarians. Because of that premise, I love to listen to Libertarians as it is often adds to my knowledge of an issue.

The debate itself was a breath of fresh air. Many different topics were discussed that are not talked about by the major party candidates. Also the selection of candidates was diverse enough that you could tell the difference between each of them. For the most part I liked each and every one of them.

I have already mentioned my support of Mike Gravel, but there are others that I really liked as well. Most notable was Michael Jingozian and Steve Kubby. Really though, I felt good about almost all the candidates. I went to bed that evening thinking I would likely vote Libertarian if the Green Party or Ralph Nader were not on my ballot here in North Carolina. When I saw the results, I realized that I would much rather vote for a major party Democrat over the Libertarian candidates that the party selected.

The Libertarian Party Candidate for President is Bob Barr and the Vice Presidential Candidate is Wayne Allyn Root. I really did not like what I saw from Bob Barr in that one debate( but I will agree that it was just one debate ). Mostly because he had either sponsored or cosponsored some of the most non-libertarian bills before Congress while he was there as a Republican, namely The Patriot Act and The Real ID act. I'm all for giving people second chances and realize that people change their minds but his responses to questions regarding these bills didn't quite go far enough for me. As for Wayne Allyn Root, my main issue with him seemed to be his personality. Perhaps it is a real issue or maybe he just reminds me too much of Biff Tannen. By himself he would be worth voting for against a major party but I feel he doesn't do a good job of balancing the ticket against Bob Barr( though that would be very difficult in my mind ).

All this is a non-issue though. I am not a Libertarian and obviously the candidate selection process does not have to reflect me in any way shape or form. It is as if I expect the Democrats or Republicans to have candidates that reflect my values. It could happen, but if it does it is only chance. I am member of the Green Party, even if it isn't recognized by my state and I support all of their presidential candidates. I have my favorites( ranked choice and all ) but I would vote for any of them over most of the other presidential candidates I am aware of at this point. Of course, the independent in me loves Ralph Nader.

So by November will I be voting for Ralph Nader or for the Green Candidate( most likely Cynthia McKinney ) or will the Libertarians some how change my mind? I don't know. I'm leaving myself open, yet opinionated :)