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107 COMMENTS

    • Pretty sure it’s illegal to accept a gift or any form of compensation in return for voting.

      Maybe you can sweet-talk Ralph into sending it to you anyway. 😉

  1. The ballot-box option isn’t were the real fight is to take place, but yes I’ll be voting for voting sake.

    Ron Paul. Because he’s the only votable candidate this year.

    • While I respect you support for Ron Paul, it is a way to make a statement. However based on the fact he probably won’t win, wouldnt it make better sense to vote for Romney? Idaho is an important state and while Romney might not be your first choice, wouldn’t it be better to have a conservative in the white house who might actually listen to Ron?
      I mean no disrespect at all here but my thought is we want a conservative house and senate along with a conservative POTUS. While it might be a nice statement it doesn’t help away the election and takes away from the conservative vote.
      Just my two cents.
      My hope is the RNC will embrace other grass roots organizations and help give them a voice in government. Ted Cruz who is a constitutional conservative and backed by the tea party is a good example of this.

      • Voting for the lesser of two evils isn’t a true vote imho. If I have to vote for a guy just because he isn’t the other guy it means there isn’t a real choice. Instead of not voting, I’ll pick the candidate that has my interests at heart.

        • True. I am not a single issue voter. To be honest I don’t even agree with all the ideals of any candidate, but I want my vote to count too. I think that given what we are seeing right now, we need this country to change course in a big way. So voting for the other guy might not fill me with warm fuzzies all over, but at least it gives us a chance to get headed in the right direction!

        • To be honest I don’t even agree with all the ideals of any candidate…

          If you don’t agree with all the ideals of any candidate, then it is your duty to abstain. Otherwise you are simply endorsing those ideals which you do not agree with.

        • I will vote and I will vote for the lesser of 2 “evils”.

          There was a primary. By the time the primaries came to my state, my preferred candidate was smeared out of the race. I voted my second choice, whom was my 1st choice in 2008. He isn’t my perfect candidate, but he is far from evil. In my opinion, there is one party that constitutionally minded folks have a chance at reforming, and I’m voting for the top of that ticket. I fear for the consequences of “Fore! more years”.

        • You should vote for the best candidate who can affect the result. Sometimes that means casting a vote for the candidate who has the best chance of defeating a popular, but very bad candidate.

          “Choosing the lesser of two evils is making the best of a lousy situation. Abstaining is allowing the lousy situation to run completely out of control, out of a misguided desire not to get one’s hands dirty.” Pontius Pilate abstained when deciding whether Christ should be crucified, and the religious among us know how that turned out.

      • As a young voter, the way the RNC/Romney has treated Ron Paul has completely lost me. Forever. I will never vote Republican again, without a vast change in their ideals, and I know a lot of my younger conservative voters feel the same. Out of all of my politically conscious friends, I know of one who would vote for Romney. The “vote for the lesser of two evils” philosophy has gotten this country nowhere. I truly don’t care on Obama vs Romney, and think Obama might actually be better for gun rights.

        • @paintballer
          Serious question. What do you think will be the best way for the RNC to embrace the smaller grass roots groups like the tea party or libertarians?
          I mean that honestly, I know a lot of conservatives feel left out because they are part of these smaller groups.
          I would think the RNC. Would embrace them. They might not get a candidate for POTUS, but I would think having committees that represent everyone would help guide the party as a whole.

        • Name ONE pro-gun decision rendered by an Obama SC nominee. You know what the SC is, right? The Supreme Court.
          WHO GIVES A RAT’S PATOOTIE WHO THE PRESIDENT IS?!?!?
          It’s who the President nominates for the Supreme Court who matters.
          Justices that vote sorta pro-2A are getting old.
          If Obama wins, we may never see another Heller or McDonald in our lifetimes.
          The POTUS has very little direct effect on our gun rights. The Supreme Court does.

        • The best way to embrace them? I’m not entirely sure. But I think its worth remembering that the Tea Party used to stand for very little besides lower spending, debt reduction, and fiscal matters — in fact the first Tea Party group came out in support of Occupy. But then the mainstream Republican views seem to have coopted it, and now it just seems to be more neo con views.

          The best way I think would to not be to treat them as they have recently: look at the fiasco with Ron Paul voters in Maine not having their votes counted. Look at Ron Paul having won Iowa, the first state to caucus, only to have the party announce it was Romney and Santorum before announcing later it was actually Paul. Look at the RNC where they just changed the rules so the delegates for smaller grassroots candidates not backed by big money have less and less of a chance. That is how they lost me. The first step to embracing smaller movements would be NOT being dishonest in order to minimize their message.

          And honestly, I have a hard time seeing where the Republican party represents me anymore. As someone who would like to see less and less spending, less regulation, no more stupid worthless wars (fyi, my two closest friends are in the military, and tell me that military bases are OVERWHELMINGLY in favor of RP because he’s the only one who treats the war as an issue), and less general interventionism, I just don’t see almost any difference between R/D/Romney/Obama.

          Other Derek: That’s a bullshit argument. Yeah, the SC is important. But as far as pro-2A justices, lets not forget that only one of the candidates has actually signed an AWB. And since a conservative candidate passed Obamacare, putting a major roadblock in my hope of someday starting a small business, the whole “Obama will put in worse justices than Romney” just doesn’t do it for me.

        • “The best way I think would to not be to treat them as they have recently: look at the fiasco with Ron Paul voters in Maine not having their votes counted.”

          THIS.

          (along with a lot of other shenanigans and bull***t the RNC pulled along the way throughout the primaries.)

          The way things were handled at the convention was disgraceful. They should be ashamed of themselves.

          There was some chance I’d be voting their way, until the Maine debacle. It has ensured that I will not be voting for the Republican ticket.

          As for the Republican Party embracing me…..well they just told me and folks like me that not only do we have no place at that table, but that we ain’t invited to begin with.

      • “Idaho is an important state and while Romney might
        not be your first choice, wouldn’t it be better to
        have a conservative in the white house who might actually
        listen to Ron?”

        Romney (AKA “Obama the White”) is not conservative in any way, he’s a super-lib. And what incentive would he have to listen to people like Ron? The GOP, the Romneys, and the sheep who wail in fear of the “other team” getting elected are doing everything in their power to drive Ron and all conservatives out of the party.

        I mean no disrespect either Snachnim, but this whole “vote the lesser(so-called) of the two evils” has given us over to liberal socialism more so than had we lost all the elections to to overt enemies like Obama, Clinton, and Gore.

        It’s the way the enemy has gotten us to not only tolerate liberal socialism, but even support it.. because ya’know, look how terrible the other guy is! We just gotta’ “win” even if that means throwing out all we stand for!

        Have you ever read the George Orwell classic “Animal Farm”? It’s a story of the Soviet Union using farm-animals, and it has a good moral…

        In the story, the animals overthrow the enslaving humans on the farm (Jones and his men), and set up a freedom-loving farm run by animals. They create a constitution/BOR of their own called “The Seven Commandments”, that they paint on the barn wall and serves as their sacred law that separates them from the wretched human beings. By and by, the pigs(the party) keep seizing powers and altering the Seven Commandments, making themselves more and more like the humans that were driven out. Every time they did this and any animal showed any shock or protest, they would immediately be put in their place by the pigs reminding that if they didn’t go along with it then “Jones would be back! Surely comrades, none of you would want to see Jones back!?” It got to the point where the pigs were carrying whips in trotters, wearing cloths, and moving into the farmhouse. At the end of the book, the pigs end up having a large shin-dig in the farmhouse with invited humans from the neighboring farms. The humans congratulate the pigs on being able to get away with what they couldn’t have. In the end the animals got everything they feared and more.

        You don’t loose by loosing an election. You truly loose when you compromise your core principles.

        Romney is the worst possible outcome this November.

        If we are so far-gone that we are willing to actually vote for this guy… Do I even have to point it out?

      • I agree with Rambeast. I don’t care for either Mitt or Obama and really don’t want either of them in office. I am not convinced that Mitt is the “right” direction as two faced as he has been. The Republican fiasco recently over delegates and how voting was counted was the final straw. Reminded me of a Nancy Pelosi move

        • Thank you to paintballer, ram beast and others that replied. I agree the current state of affairs is pretty pathetic.
          I would think that of the rhino republicans didn’t has a strangle hold on the RNC things would be different.
          For both the RNC and DNC I would think that runnin the party in such a way that all the smaller groups would be included and give. A voice would bolster their movement as a whole. Then again this requires logic and common sense which I find lacking in the government lol
          Unfortunately despite Romney not being the perfect choice for me, it doesn’t matter which way I vote since I in CA. More important is my local elections which I have taken interest in. I would hope that all of us would vote in that arena. It is sad that our major parties have be one so isolated as to notable an effort to include others with similar views.

        • Sanchim, if your vote won’t affect the state’s decision in electoral votes, it’s all the more reason not to vote for Mitt as a matter of “the lesser of two evils” and vote for say Gary Johnson and actually support a real conservative.

      • I’m not sure what drugs you’re on if you think Romney is a conservative. Check his record as governor of MA – that boy is about as liberal as they come and is the living embodiment of the term RINO.

      • That depends on what county you live in. I’m voting out of king county Washington. Obama will take it by 70%. I may as well write in Ron Burgandy.

        • I agree like being in CA, Obama will probably take it with room to spare. Then again your local elections have a lot riding on them so don’t let that discourage you from getting out there to vote!

        • The only person who actually submitted a budget that decreased the national debt was Ron Paul. All of Ryan’s budget “cuts” would decrease future spending increases while spending as a whole went up.

          Lets be honest: our economy is EFFED because of paper dollars, and Federal Reserve policy. The only one willing to take a hard look at that is Ron Paul. And frankly, I think its too late for our economy. We’ve been kicking the can since 2008, but it hasn’t really crashed yet…we’ve been slowly losing reserve currency status, the only reason we’ve got it right now is because India/China aren’t trusted, and the Euro is falling even harder. Sooner or later the dollar is going to be worthless, and there’s nothing anyone can do about it, unless people decide to continue to accept it as a reserve currency. But they’ve been moving to local currencies, or China in the past year.

        • if the gop crashes and burns that leaves schumer, difi, pelosi and bloomberg in the drivers seat. won’t be long and we’ll be envying the british and their loose gun laws.

        • The Democrat and Republican parties depend on each other. Because as soon as an alternative third party gains a legitimate status in the eyes of voters, this two party scheme is done for and they both lose power. And I’m not going to vote for dishonest Rs so that the dishonest Ds don’t get in.

          If the Rs crumble, people aren’t going to vote for the D’s more than they have been. Some coalition group of smaller parties with similar views would form that would better represent the people. THE SKY WOULD NOT FALL.

        • paintballer. i admit that i’m a single issue voter, my guns being the issue. if the gop crashes and burns we may get a coalition of smaller parties to challenge the dems. or we may get a bunch of splintered groups with no consensus or pull. in the meantime we’ll have barry for another term and after that, maybe hillary. and last i heard she supports the u.n. arms treaty. by the time a group strong enough to challenge the dems comes along we may be stuck with enflish style gun laws, if not worse.

  2. hell yeah. and why can’t ralph just do an article on his recipes? little off topic for a gun site, but we need to keep our energy up to train and prepare.

  3. Please Ralph we all want the recipie, especially for thanks giving this year.
    But you bet I will be voting. Being in CA I don’t think my presidential vote will matter to much, but changes we can make locally are always important if not more important.
    Here is an idea.
    We could come up with gun themed recipes and make a cook book. Like Ralph’s tacticool corn bread stuffing, or hunters tuna and white sauce on a shingle lol
    Just an idea 🙂

    • AGREED with Matt O. Two to three court judges will be appointed in the next for years… ABO! I’m discouraged that my vote will not count for much but I’m not throwing in the towel just yet. My daughter’s about to turn 21 and I want her to be able to carry concealed handgun for her safety.

  4. Probably not. I have no love for Obama, butI really don’t want to support more big-government, militaristic Republicans. I won’t cast a vote for Gary Johnson because he’s pro-choice, that’s a deal-breaker for me. I don’t buy the ‘lesser of two evils’ argument – we get that every four years for candidates that conservatives/libertarians don’t really like and can’t really get excited about. I don’t care about the battle for the White House so much as the battle over the soul of the GOP. Is it going to be a big-government, interventionist party, or will it be consistently small-government? That’s the contest I care about.

    • big govt, interventionist has won. sadly. I’m writing in RP and then who knows what I will vote for. GJ has the same issues with me…I can’t support him because he’s pro choice.

    • I won’t cast a vote for Gary Johnson because he’s pro-choice, that’s a deal-breaker for me.

      Sorry, but that’s just plain foolish. No president will have any effect on abortion. You might as well be saying that you won’t vote for Gary Johnson because he supports allowing women to vote.

  5. Remember the next president will choose 2-3 supreme court judges… Do we want liberal judges in for the next 10-15 years…? Vote Romney and at least he will put in conservatives… And for those who say if you don’t vote you can’t whine… Not true… Nothing can stop the whining 🙂

  6. Remember the next president will choose 2-3 supreme court judges… Do we want liberal judges in for the next 10-15 years…? Vote Romney and at least he will put in conservatives…

    • Thought Bush was supposed to do that. And how did Obamacare get passed again? That’s a bullshit argument. There is hardly any difference between Rs or Ds when it comes to policy and beliefs, sadly.

  7. in this thread, naive people who think voting will do more than simply change the face of government.

    i’ll be happily be part of the majority, and abstain once again, rather then lend the politicians my voice. Telling people who try to get me to vote, that if they really want me to engage in a masturbatory act, they should simply buy me a flesh light, it’ll be much more effective.

  8. Yes!

    It’s sad that US voter turnout hovers around a mere 60%. You think with everything that has been suffered by folks in this country for just the right to vote, more people would exercise it.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voter_turnout#Trends_of_decreasing_turnout

    I do sympathize with people who feel disconnected from the political process (2 party rule of our country… meh), who feel their voting rights are not accessible, etc. Lucky for me, WA state is a relatively easy place to vote in – just mail in your ballot and you’re done.

    • 60% turn out is only for the presidential elections, and doesnt include that about 10% of the population is disqualified from voting. When you move to state or city elections the number drops significantly. For Chicago’s mayoral election it is around 25%, assuming there is no fraud, even though voter fraud here has been documented time and time again.

  9. I’m voting. Probably third party or write in, but I’m voting. I’m definitely not voting for either of the two snake in the grass front runners.
    I’ll vote the way I’ve always voted; you have a history of violating the Constitution, you don’t get my vote.

  10. If I was allowed to vote for the people who influence the president of the united states of america I’d view it as a worthwhile use of my time, but we aren’t allowed to vote to decide who the president listens to and who really controls his actions and guides his decisions, and those people don’t have term limits, they hold power as long as they want and then pass if off to a person of their choosing. What difference does it make who we elect to be the president when all that person is going to do is whatever he’s told to do by the people who really hold power?

  11. Nobody is getting my recipes, so don’t ask.

    In answer to the original question, hell yes I’m voting. In fact, I think I’m moving to Chicago so I can vote more than once, even after I’m dead.

  12. No. National elections are a sick joke. I also feel like I give my consent to be ruled by these wicked people if I vote.

  13. My vote this year will be going to Gary Johnson. This lesser of two evils has to stop. The only way for a third party candidate to ever have a chance is if more people start voting what they believe and ignoring the “A vote for Gary Johnson is a vote (or two) for Obama.” No, a vote for Gary Johnson is a vote for Gary Johnson and for the future of this country.

  14. “People who cast the votes decide nothing. The people who count the votes decide everything.”
    ― Joseph Stalin

    “Give me control of a nation’s money and I care not who makes it’s laws” — Mayer Amschel Bauer Rothschild …

  15. My belief has always been that you go to the polls to vote for “the candidate you want to win” not “the party line” or “the lesser of two evils.”
    That said, this time around I’m going to skip my usual third party candidate vote. I really, really don’t want Obama to win, mostly because I don’t want another four year window of time for him to select anti-gun judges.
    I don’ t see how third parties can ever gain traction in this country. I think it’s better to find candidates whose theme is freedom and liberty, regardless of the letter next to their name, and support them at every level.

  16. Ron Paul supporter. But I’m voting for Mitt Romney. The Kenyan has to go. Never miss a vote. I’m not throwing my vote away to make a point.

    • And never skip those supposedly unimportant elections the other three years out of four – every President, whether we hate them or like them, had to start somewhere…

    • I would never consider voting for the ideal candidate a wasted vote. Your vote is nothing more than a communication tool. If you don’t vote you’re saying that you’re happy with the status quo. If you vote D or R you’re still saying that you’re happy with the status quo. One of the few ways most of us have to truly express our dissatisfaction with the two major parties is to vote for a 3rd party candidate. I long for the day “bipartisan” is replaced with “multi-partisan” in our political reporting.
      As for me after years of voting L, I’ll be voting R at least in the Presidential race. I guess my views have shifted a bit and the Tea Party influence has shifted the R party enough to get my vote this year. The L’s will never be more than a fringe party with the plank “abolish public education”. They should change it to “make public education compete on a level playing field with other forms of education”, then folks might see them as a major player.
      For the folks that are waiting for the perfect candidate, if everyone did that there couldn’t be an election. There is no such animal…

    • John C. is so right. “Don’t throw out the baby with the bath water”. I was Ron Paul all the way, but I’m not wasting my vote on a third party when we need a conservative to decide next two to three supreme court judges.

    • So, you have not expressed your democratic opinions on letting gays marry (constitutional banned by initiative in majority of US states) or property taxation (which appears on every ballot). These issues were decided not by politician votes, but by the initiative process and majority voting of the people.

      I propose the @Van 10,000% mill levy, to pay for gun instruction camps for the youth.

  17. Yes, and while I’m far from in love with everything Romney is likely to do, there’s no such thing as a perfect candidate. Unlike many of the single issue nutjobs, I’m not so blinded by any given thing that I’ll let principle (e.g. losing) get in the way of rolling back the last four years of galactic stupidity.

  18. for all the independent voters and abstainers, if any of you are old enough to remember the awb or signing for every box of ammo with the records open to the police or most states not being shall issue these are the things that are going to hit us and worse if barry gets a second chance. is the gop perfect, no. but the alternative is a lot worse.

  19. I’ve no illusions but that Romney is a “small p” progressive. I’ve been putting my donations into conservative causes (Senator DemMint’s “Senate Conservatives Fund” and selected individual donations such as Allen West and Ted Cruz), not to the GOP establishment such as the RNC. That said, I will (without enthusiasm) vote from Romney in November, for Barry Soetoro Hussein Obama presents an existential threat to this country. Just go see the movie “2016” or read the book “Radical in Chief” and you’ll know that while Romney is no prize, he’s not out to deliberately drag this country down, while Hussein very much intends that.

    We can get back to principles / routine politics later (I did vote Perot in 1992 just to send a message to the GOP — we could afford it then since the Democrat candidate wasn’t a progeny of the Saul Alinsky / Midwest Academy school of revolution by stealth).

    • I feel the same way Tom. If you belong to a smaller group like Libertarian then get those folks in the house or senate. That will give you a real voice.
      If there is a conservative supermajority in both houses, even if Obama is elected again he will have to listen.
      Sure he can continue his line of executive orders to bypass legislature but it will look really bad.

  20. Might as well while I still can. The way things are going, I’ll be telling my grandchildren what it was like to have the right to vote.

  21. I don’t think I could vote for Romney–period. He’s too much like Obama, ‘cept he’ll waste too much time (and money) just making his version of ObamaRomneycare. In some ways I’d just as soon keep Obama in place, it’s Congress where the real power lies; and with as much bad blood there keeping Obama around is likely to keep them from doing too much.

    But I’m not sure if I’d actually vote for Obama. Will likely just write Ron Paul in and call it a day. I think Obama is going to win anyhow. But if we can just keep the RP movement going, maybe next election cycle we’ll get all the closer.

  22. In a representative democracy you don’t always get the chance to vote for who you want… but you can damn sure vote against who you don’t want. For sure I’m voting.

  23. I’ve voted in every presidential and congressional election since I turned eighteen, and I plan on continuing to do so, along with now voting in both the primary elections and also local elections.

    And, as a side note, I’m tired of interviews with ‘first time voters’ (unless they just turned eighteen). Anyone who hasn’t voted in elections previously has done nothing to turn the tides that drive this country and deserves to be swamped by the waves.

  24. only two mentions of Gary Johnson? I thought the Armed Intelligentsia would have a lot more to say about him… without a doubt, he’s getting my vote.

    It took a while, but my disdain for the RNC has finally matched my disdain for the DNC.

  25. Yes, I’m voting. Just like I do every primary and every other election. And I have no problem voting for Mitt, because he is not a Democrat. I am a single issue voter.

    It is all but a plank of the Democratic party that the 2nd Ammendment does not mean what it says and that all guns should be banned.

    Yes, I would be happier with a more conservative, Tea Party, or Libertarian candidate to appoint the next Supreme Court justices. But a vote for anyone other than Romney IS effectively voting for more Obama. It’s childish and selfish.

    As someone else has said, get Libertarians elected to Congress and grow their power till the RNC has to respect them. But till they have power at the grassroots level, they will never be respected. The Tea Party has some power because they have gotten candidates elected. They’ve also done some harm by running candidates that have allowed a Democrat to win.

    But I live in Illinois, and as long as Crook County exists Democrats will rule this state and it’s electoral votes.

    • That would have been me Jim.
      I would love to see both the senate and the house full of various smaller groups. Sure they aren’t president, but to be honest they can do more good right now and get this country back on track by serving on the hill and in the capitals of our states.
      This can have a dramatic effect today, and can be used for a strong voice in our government. This is why I was happy to see Ted Cruz do so well to knock over the republican establishment. As with any new party or movement it takes baby steps. As the voice and strength grows it will become impossible to ignore.

    • Ahh, another “You’re a looser if you don’t ‘win’. I’m going to be pragmatic and drag us deeper into liberalism/collectivism, because standing up for something is for suckers” voter.

      You are a perfect example of what I talked about when I said that the GOP, party-worshiping “win”-at-all-cost types have driven what conservatives may have been left out of the party.

      “And I have no problem voting for Mitt, because he is not a Democrat.”

      And of course.. Four legs, good! Two legs, bad!

      • Voting 3rd party for the Presidential Ticket is for suckers right now. I am a Conservative/Libertarian whose work has moved me to hell, ie Illinois. I certainly don’t worship the Republican party.

        But most importantly, I hate Obama and have since he was elected to the Senate. And for the sake of the 2nd Ammendment, he should not be given the chance to appoint anyone else to the SC. How this country ever trusted a politician from Ilinois to the Presidency…disgusts me.

    • They’ve also done some harm by running candidates that have allowed a Democrat to win.

      Take the long view, think about more than the next election. If a district typically votes +5% R, it’s unlikely that a D will last for more than one term before being replaced by an R, and a D will do less damage in one term than a RINO will do in the decades they typically hang around. .

      This is the reason the D’s are complaining about the Republican party being hijacked by hardliners and being less willing to compromise than in the past.

  26. Nope. I see no point since Obama and Romney are the same. Judge Napolitano created a video of their past speeches and put them side by side. The only difference is in the promises they will make.

  27. I don’t vote. I do not consent to being ruled by politicians and will thus not lend my tacit approval by participating in their charades. Since Obama and Romney are identical, it matters not which one wins. However, I do agree with Lysander Spooner’s sentiment… “I would much rather the government be in the hands of declared enemies of liberty, than in those of treacherous friends.”

  28. I live 5 miles from Biden’s house so I think the 3 EC votes in my state are going for Big O. But I still lodge my protest vote.

  29. Telling me a vote for Gary Johnson is the same as a vote for Obama got me to change my mind, and choose Mitt Romney…

    Said no one, ever.

  30. Hard to believe people would vote for Romney after what he and the RNC did at the convention.

    http://www.wnd.com/2012/09/romneys-fair-warning/
    “It is deeply ironic that paranoid Republicans, who suspect Obama of secretly planning to circumvent the law in order to rule the country with an iron fist, should turn to Mitt Romney to save them when Romney has already shown his ready willingness to do the very thing they fear. Romney’s ruthless actions at the Republican convention show every sign that in turning to him, America will be jumping out of the frying pan and right into the fire.”

    If you haven’t watched “RNC 2012 Sham” you really should.
    Gary Johnson is the only candidate running who is not a gun grabber.

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