The Other Candidates

     Well it is now less than one week to the US Presidential election, and to hear the mainstream media tell it there are only two candidates running for the office, Barack Obama and Mitt Romney.  To some of us the menu is unpalatable.
     President Obama is personally likeable, and as far as I can tell honest and sincere.  But his record is lackluster at best.  His policy decisions have often been muddled.  He appointed a bipartisan commission to study the debt crisis, and when it issued its recommendations he ignored them.  He has not proposed a serious budget in three years.  His health care reform program is a bureaucratic monstrosity.
     Mr. Romney is undoubtedly an astute businessman, but he gives the distinct impression of simply telling audiences what they want to hear. His plan to handle the deficit is incomprehensible.  He doesn't want to cut defense spending, doesn't want to raise taxes, and waffled on his running mate's plan to reform Medicare.  He wants to lower marginal tax rates, but won't state which credits and deductions he would eliminate to make up for the lost revenue.
     Both candidates are enamored with a grandiose vision of spreading American democracy abroad and reforming the Islamic world.
     Frankly, both candidates represent what is wrong in Washington today.  They are more intent on getting elected than they are in finding real solutions to the problems that beset us.  There has to be a better way.
     Actually, there is.  President Obama and Mitt Romney are not the only candidates running for president.  There are, in fact, a number of third party candidates who deserve our attention.
     Virgil Goode is the Constitution Party's candidate.  He is a former congressman from Virginia.  The Libertarian Party's candidate is former Gov. Gary Johnson of New Mexico.  Both the Constitution and Libertarian parties are in favor of balancing the budget immediately, ending the war in Afghanistan, auditing the Federal Reserve, and protecting Second Amendment gun rights. There are some sharp differences between the two parties, however, particularly in the area of social issues.  The Libertarian Party is calling same-sex marriage a "fundamental right," and is in favor of legalizing marijuana.  The Constitution Party, on the other hand, wants to define marriage as being between one man and one woman, and is strongly pro-life on the abortion issue.
     Former Salt Lake City mayor Rocky Anderson is running for President on the Justice Party ticket.  His position is similar to that of the Libertarians on a number of issues, including the war in Afghanistan and ending the war on drugs. But Anderson also wants a single-payer national health insurance plan and a federally funded jobs program.
     Dr. Jill Stein is the candidate of the Green Party, and she would also like to see a federal jobs program.  She likes to call her plan the "Green New Deal."  It is not certain how either Anderson or Stein would pay for such a proposal.
     Third parties play an important role in American democracy.  They typically address issues that the major parties don't want to touch, and put forward new ideas.
     Many conservative voters are inclined to vote for Romney just to get Obama out of office.  But it makes little sense to vote for Tweedle Dee just to remove Tweedle Dum.  We cannot sustain the current level of deficit spending forever.  To balance the budget we must reform the entitlement programs, cut defense spending, and reform the tax code.  In short, we need to act on the proposals of the Bowles-Simpson Commission.  The reason we don't is because each program and each tax break has its own constituency, and the the politicians are afraid that they will be cutting their own throats if they take a scalpel either to the budget or the tax code.
     Are you "throwing away your vote" by voting for a candidate who has little chance of winning?  You are throwing away your vote by voting for a candidate who doesn't really believe what you believe, and who is part of the problem rather than the solution.  The way to make your voice be heard is by supporting the candidate who is saying what you want to be said.  The third party candidates deserve to be heard.