Why Libertarian?

In November 2011 I started to seriously consider running for officeI have certainly though of doing it before, but after receiving a number of general inquires, via mass e-mail, from the Texas and National Libertarian parties I figured it would at least be a great learning experience.  I certainly don’t expect that I’ll win, but hopefully it will be educational for myself, and for others within my congressional district.

Why Libertarian? My journey through the political spectrum starts when I was just a teenager.  I overheard an older brother-in-law of a friend of mine badmouthing Democrats, and soon started to realize I was living in an area heavily dominated by self proclaimed “conservatives”, many of whom were practicing Republicans. I found myself identifying with a lot of what Republicans had to say, yet still much of it seemed a bit off to me; and proclaimed myself to be more of a Moderate.  The first few chances I had to vote, despite having closely supported Republicans at a state level, I found myself voting for Presidential candidates belonging to the Constitution Party; mostly out of protest. After all if you vote for the lesser of two evils, all you really end up with is evil.  I first heard of the Constitution Party while sitting in church, after our Priesthood meeting had concluded.  A man who had just given a lesson on freedom and liberty, after being asked a question, decided since church was over he was ok to talk more freely about a particular political candidate running under this parties banner.

I soon after moved to Texas, were the Libertarian Party has a much larger Influence.  Of course being much larger then almost nothing still isn’t very large, yet as I continued to learn more about politics, and the political process, I found myself disagreeing more and more with Republicans, and certainly a great deal with Democrats.  I eventually concluded that there is a problem with the political system itself.

Today I find myself wanting to be a Moderate Libertarian at a Federal Level, a Moderately Conservative Republican and a state level, and a Conservative Democrat at a local, regional or county level.  However, if I want to get involved at any level, I must pick one.  If I want to have much of a chance at really getting involved in a big way, I’m pressured into picking one of the major parties, and hoping that I can influence it from within; something I had tried before as a county delegate within the Republican Party.  Or I can pick the long shot, the one I most identify with, relative to the position I want to run for, and hope for the best.

Now I just have a whole lot of paperwork to get done, notarized, and mailed in.

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