I voted for Harry Browne. I'm proud to be a card-carrying member of the Libertarian Party, and I'm a bit surprised to see so little mention of Harry or the LP here. Then again, not so surprised, as lazy journalists aren't interested in bringing you anyone *new* that they'd need to actually *work* at telling people who they are. People like Nader and Perot were featured because their names were known (and Perot has lots of money); Harry Browne, though having better qualifications as a candidate than Perot, was an unknown quantity to the news people, and was a casualty of their disinterest.

The LP is the party of principle, and of freedom, with real ideas and (most importanltly) CONCRETE PLANS for removing federal government from our backs. The only party that supports all rights enumerated in the Bill of Rights *without reservation*. If you'd be free, learn. If you want more of the same, quit voting, or pick at random.

(Not my best post ever, I guess, but there iit is.

David Carson {d.carson@oneworld.owt.com}

david {terradave@mail.utexas.edu}

I stuck them on every door, on the glass entrances of offices down the street, on the cabinet where the coffee cups live.

I don't care who they vote for, I just hate the idea that people don't care enough to participate. Then again, I hated the fact that Boston.com, which I'd recommended to everyone, didn't have a damn thing about the local State Rep election I cared most about--a write in campaign where I could find out nothing about any of the candidates. I hated the fact that it wasn't clear to me which district I live in until I went in to vote--even the form which came back from the voter registration office didn't list my district number. God knows how hard it would be to figure out how to run for office myself. Now that would make a good Web site.

Oh yeah, Clinton. For so many social issues. What good is "integrity" if you're voting against kindness and for intolerance? I hope Bob Dole, now unshackled, can do some good things in the world.

kirsten {kalex@songline.com}

Glenn R. Smith {durgadas@hawaiian.net}

After having spent much of this election season pouring over media coverage of the campaign, I felt very ambivalent about making my choice for president. I saved the presidential vote for last, and even then, I spent a full ten minutes staring at the ballot and absolutely hating, Hating, HATING the choices that were before me.

Clinton's record on civil liberties issues has been a complete disaster. He's a snake and a con-man, and he's abused my trust during the last 4 years.

I liked Dole. I liked his sense of humor, and his genuineness, but he undercut himself by supporting policies (like the 15 percent tax cut) which he'd spent much of his political career opposing. Moreover, he just seems out of it with regard to the future. Dole demonstrated no understanding of the New Economy or the Internet, and his appeals to the WWII generation to let him go fight "one last battle" really turned me off. Ancient history, as far as I'm concerned.

Ralph Nader has no credibility with me. He's an old, tired lefty who couldn't even be bothered to actually campaign for office. He too represents the past.

I thought about voting for Harry Browne for a nanosecond. Browne's Internet policies make sense, but in when I pull back and look at the big picture, he begins to seem like a crank. I'm not a libertarian. I think the government can play a positive role in society. Browne is too extreme.

So, in the end, I cast my vote for "the devil I know." I voted for Clinton. Somehow, he usually does the right thing in spite of himself, and his judicial appointments will certainly be better than Dole's.

Not an inspiring calculus... but it was appropriate dose of realpolitik to cap off an uninspiring campaign season.

Thank God it's over at last.

--Todd Lappin--> {telstar@wired.com}

My future is being co-determined by people who pick candidates at random? By people who actually once believed that Clinton believes in something? What irresponsible, gullible, self-indulgent ninnies. They are ripe for exploitation.

Netizens -- living as they do in a world built of nothing but language -- are universally adept at one thing: whining.

Ordinary Joes and Janes are right to mistrust the self-proclaimed cyber-elites. Their artful poses, sly irony, and jaded palates all presage Fascism. [Chesterton, Brecht, etc.]

Mac

I would have voted for Harry Browne. A Third party candidate resting the strong foundation of smaller Government, No IRS and abolishment of the national debt. I dont know if anyone sees it but the 2 party system doesn't seem to be working that well. Nothing EVER gets done, Nothing changes (Except the expansion of Government). Don't you think it's time we did something about it?? Are you really happy giving 35% of money YOU earned to the government, for WHAT in return?? What do you get back?? Is that worth 35% of your pay check?? But none of what I say matters at all because I can't vote. (Yet) So do yourself a favor change the world and if you can get out there and vote for CHANGE. Vote Liberterian.

Steve Imarata {simarata@pb.net}

My wife already had the evening news on, and we sat and commiserated. There was a time when I felt good about voting. Now it seems I go vote mostly to just minimize the damage.

For president, I voted for Harry Browne. I stumbled across the Libertarian Party four years ago, while trying to find my political identity. Out of the blue, here was a political party that believed everything I did....leave people alone, minimize government, keep government local. Have faith in people to sort out their own problems. I joined the party, I carry the card, and I support the Libertarian Party with my money.

I only wish I felt better about being one. If you're a Democrat or a Republican, then you really cannot understand the feeling of knowing that your candidate is going to get creamed, no matter how sure you are in your convictions and no matter how much you know your vote is not wasted.

As far as I can see, those of you who bemoan the existence of third party candidates are missing the point. Third party candidates aren't yet even making a dent in the Demopublican monopoly. But we need them. We desperately need the Libertarians and the Reformers and the Greens because the Democrats and Republicans have betrayed us so badly. I will continue to vote Libertarian because that is what I believe is best for the country, but I will also fight for the right for all third parties to have access to the ballot, the right to register voters, and equal exposure in the media.

Always vote your conscience, whether that's for Libertarian, Republican, Democrat, Reform, Green, or whatever party. Your candidate won't always win, but at least you'll feel a little better.

dR.DavE {dr.dave@pobox.com}

I voted for him again but later that night when I was watching the returns come in I realized that I had no idea who this man was. He's changed his beliefs so many times that there's no way to tell if he has any core principles or values.

In Woody Allen's brilliant movie (which foreshadowed Forest Gump by fifteen years), Leonard Zelig is cast as the ultimate assimilator. He becomes exactly like the people that he hangs out with. He does this because he wants to fit in so bad that he's willing to erase his own identity.

In the same way, Bill Clinton wants to be everybody's best friend (or at least get reelected) and has consistently turned his back on the constituency that got him elected. The big question for me is this: Will Clinton come around like Leonard Zelig did?

In the movie, Zelig is cured after Mia Farrow, his shrink, pretends that he *is* actually the person he claims to be. Now that Clinton doesn't have to ever run again for public office, I wonder if he'll have the courage to face down his own cynicism and reveal his true self.

But that's probably wishful thinking or just plain ol' naivete ...

Spencer E. Ante {spencer_ante@webmagazine.com}

Steve Philpot {sphilpot@notes.mdacc.tmc.edu}

Timothy Tolle {1tdt8712@ibm.mtsac.edu}

I wish all those too disheartened to vote would vote for thrid parties. Any third party. Make it known how sick you are of the two in power!

Sigh...

-A. {astern@mail.idt.net}

Today I voted for Mr. Bill and was quite glad actually. This afternoon listening to Jerry on his We the People show, I realized that although Bill has his faults, nobody in his right mind (except maybe me) would vote for California's ex- Govenor...

Robert Dole? The Walter Mondale of the right. No thank you.

Derrick Oien {brik@primenet.com}

But then I graduated, and it didn't seem like as much of a game. I got to vote for the first time in The Real World, knew that I would be voting on Big Things (Prop.209, Prop.211, which could have affected me directly) and a lot of little things (Community College Trustees...what power).

I voted Natural Law on all the candidates I could...I've given up on Bubba; Bob "The Internet is a great way to get on the Net" Dole seemed too out of touch; the Reform Party has good ideas, but the thought Perot being The Man With The Button scared the hell out of me. The other parties just didn't seem to agree with me, but Natural Law did. Or course, I knew that they didn't have a snowball's chance, but it seemed like a better message than writing in "NONE OF THE ABOVE" like I used to.

I went first thing in the morning, since the polling place was right across the street from my apartment. I bike in the morning, so I rolled into the voting booth dressed like a Bike Dork: spandex, gloves, helmet, shoes, shades, jersey; I loved it, surrounded by all those little old ladies who ran the show (is that a law? One can only be an election official if one is a LOL?) I voted, put my "I VOTED" sticker on my helmet, and went off to ride.

After I got home from work, I watched the dreadful, dreadful newscasts...all the same, all saying the same NOTHING over and over. I didn't hear about any candidates but the Dems and Repubs...I never saw if any of my choices for City Council got in or got stomped (of course, they did...who pays attention anymore to the candidates? Am I unemployed? No. Then I'll vote for the guy who's still in).

The odd thing was that I watched this whole thing with my dad, who had come over to my place that night. He told me that he was proud of me that I'd voted, and how funny a thing that is to be proud of. He was a little sad about it all, too; he could see how it was going to turn out...four more years of the same assholes. The elections, as Dad figures (and he's probably right), are all determined by people like him: middle class, suburban, white males. How many people my age (22) voted, said their piece? (If they all did, would Prop. 209 have passed?) I worry more and more about Social Security and Medicare going poof and me having to take care of my parents and my own family (if that ever happens); I worry about the way America is slowly shaping up to be a heinous place to live in; I worry about the trails I bike on getting turned into tract housing and that I didn't do enough to stop it; I worry about the ring of smog that chokes LA that I get to see every day when I go to work; I worry if there will always be work, if things are going to fall apart and computer dorks won't be needed anymore.

But I voted. I did my part. I'll keep doing my part, and I hope I'll start doing more, helping someone new try to run the show, or (better yet) figure out a way so we can live without having to elect any assholes to go to DC to play with our taxes. (Wouldn't that be beautiful? The county taking a week off to decide, collectively, over the Web or NetTV how we were going to spend our taxes for the upcoming year, and then electing someone to administrate that money for that year? But that won't happen, not unless something prods all of off the couches and into the world).

My first Real World election. I wonder the rest will be like?

Adam Rakunas {adamr@rtassoc.com}

Today on TV I saw a story about how insurance companies want to require hospitals to discharge women the same day they have radical mastectomies. Imagine that. A woman goes under general anesthesia in the morning, has this traumatic surgery, wakes up, and is forced to go home, groggy and in physical and emotional pain. How do we stop corporate abuse such as this? Through government. When the people collectively say they want curbs on corporate abuses, they act through government. That's government acting on your behalf. It's not a case of government on your back.

I was in a Sears store this afternoon and noticed an entire aisle devoted to water purifiers. Multinational corporate conglomerates are polluting our water, and today's solution is to offer home water purification systems to people who can afford them. It's the result of executives of corporate conglomerates convincing naive voters that they are harmed economically by efforts to keep our air and water clean. Now those voters have to spend money to clean the water themselves at home, instead of doing the much more economically efficient thing, which is, first, preventing pollution and second, having the government clean the water for everyone.

And I have to laugh at Dean Murphy, one of the above posters, who says he is a sergeant in the army but can't even spell sergeant. He's a liar.

And to the people who say Clinton is a socialist and a liberal (how I wish he were): why don't you take a look at his record? The guy is to the right of Richard Nixon. He's a conservative. Why do you rant and make judgments about his personal behavior, then ignore his political behavior? Look at his record. He's a conservative. That's why I didn't repeat my mistake of 1992 by voting for him this year.

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

Holden {holdenl@ix.netcom.com}

Private {moutnbkr@ix.netcom.com}

Joan Jaeckel {jjaeckel@earthlink.net}

Barry Edinburg {barry_edinburg@usccmail.lehman.com}

As stated in a previous post, the color of our political system is green and everyone is a special interest. The Sunday news programs from Face the Nation to Meet the Press and Brinkley all showcase people talking about how we must take care of everyone. I have one question to ask of ANY proposed program, Can we afford it? Actually, the answer is not of specific importance to me since, when the bills come due I will be gone, but you, my young friends are going to have to live the consequences of our "leaders" actions today, and I shudder when I think of what that means.

The environment is important but what will a bankrupt country be able to do about it. Welfare will cease to be welfare when everyone needs it and the unrelenting taxation levels, now at truly confiscitory levels, must be changed.

I voted straight Republican (Last time it was Perot) because these are the only people actually trying to bring fiscal responsibility to this nation. To return us to a Constitutional government where our elected representatives actually try to govern by the document they have sworn to defend.

I am sad to see the lack of focus and concern in the younger generations. Only you can make a difference and it is time to begin.

Steve Carson {SteveNitro@aol.com}

When it came down to it, I might as well have not voted. Quite honestly, I don't even know if the two outcomes are that different in my life. Maybe I'm young and naive right now, but politics just seem to be incredibly distant issues. I'm more interested in those features of my life that are visible and at hand, like whether I'll graduate on time, whether I'll fall in love, whether I'll live until the end of the week. Politicians and journalists seem to think that life ends outside of D.C., but I tend to think the opposite.

I voted for Bill Clinton, because he seemed less likely to declare war and make me shoot people. As far as I can tell, that's the number one effect that the President has on the quality of my life. It seems strange that nobody on this page voted for Clinton, and yet he won.

Steve Loomis {loomis@stolaf.edu}