LL>>> Voting for candidates who are not a Democrat or a Republican   
    LL>>> is viewed by many as being a wasted vote.  However, Jesse   
    LL>>> Ventura and Minnesotans would tell you otherwise...   
      
   BK>>There are a lot of officials on the local level with little or   
   BK>>no connection to the parties, but on the national level they are   
   BK>>few and far between. I believe two or three in congress at the   
   BK>>same time is the most in recent memory.   
      
    LL> Jesse Ventura won election at the statewide level, having   
    LL> been elected Governor of Minnesota.  He later toyed with   
    LL> idea of running for President, but his wife knocked some   
    LL> sense into his head thus bringing him back down to earth.   
      
    Jesse won, at least partly, by lying about his military service.   
    He was totally unqualified, and I don't see him being idolized   
    now.   
      
    LL> Ventura did make an interesting observation.  The largest   
    LL> group of voters are not Democrats or Republicans, but   
    LL> Independents.   
      
    I have made that point long ago.   
      
    LL> And if a politician (such as Ventura) could   
    LL> tap into that base of voters, it would be lights out for   
    LL> both the Democratic and Republican candidates.   
      
    On that point he was wrong. See, the problem with counting on   
    independents is, they are too independent. No matter how much   
    you tap in you won't get them all, and either party can get   
    some. He needed to draw from the parties also.   
      
    ...   
      
   BK>>That is the real reason to participate by belief. That plus a   
   BK>>meaningful proposal by an outside party can change the course of   
   BK>>a major party.   
      
    LL> It often has.  For example, the ideas of Norman Thomas   
    LL> strongly influenced the decisions that Franklin Roosevelt   
    LL> made.  Especially in regards to domestic policy.  Of   
      
    That is just what I was thinking of in my response.   
      
    LL> course, that helped America in a positive way.  On the down   
    LL> side, the ideas and philosophy of the Tea Party would   
    LL> undoubtedly influence the future presidency of Mitt Romney.   
    LL>  But I guess things could be worse.  Just imagine the ghost   
    LL>  of Ayn Rand influencing the future presidency of Paul   
    LL>  Ryan.  Or would that be too much of a nightmare?   
      
    No, way too much of the truth!   
      
   BOB KLAHN bob.klahn@sev.org   http://home.toltbbs.com/bobklahn   
      
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