It's a political shitstorm firestorm out there and it seems that nearly everyone is scrambling to align with the candidate who's most likely to win.

This ain't a horse race. It's an election. We the People are about to determine who is at the helm of our nation's ship for the next four years. It's not time to guess who's most likely to win and then cast your vote that way. It's time to THINK and vote for the person who will lead the country in the way you want it run.

I am a Libertarian. There is a Libertarian candidate running for President this year, Bob Barr. You probably haven't heard about him, but I bet you have heard about Ron Paul. If you have heard of Ron Paul and you know what he's campaigned about, then you know what Libertarians support. Ron Paul claims to be a Republican, but if you examine his platform and compare it with the Libertarian platform, you'd see that they're one in the same.

Why am I Libertarian?

I'm tired of government involvement in my day-to-day life. I'm tired of the government sticking its nose in where it doesn't belong.

• The government has no right to know what I'm looking at on the internet, what I say over the telephone, who I call, who I write, what I read and what I watch. The framers of the Constitution and Bill of Rights agreed - and they guaranteed me those freedoms through the First and Fourth Amendments. Both Democrats and Republicans continually usurp those rights and skirt the Constitution with bills such as the Patriot Act.

I'm tired of the government telling me how much of my money I can keep. I'm tired of the American Dream being taken away. I'm tired of being taxed to death - even after death. I'm tired of the exploding national debt. I'm tired of giving my money to a retirement system, knowing that I'll never see a penny of it.

• Democrats, while their intention is noble, want to give money away. They want to perpetuate the current welfare entitlement system. They want to give away insurance and benefits, but they have no realistic plan on how to pay for it. Tax the rich and corporate America? Sure, but they'll just pass the burden down to Mr. and Mrs. Middle Class America through price increases and wage cuts. Republicans like the big government, too. Contrary to popular myth, every Republican president since and including Herbert Hoover has increased the federal government's size, scope, or power--and usually all three. Over the last one hundred years, of the five presidents who presided over the largest domestic spending increases, four were Republicans. Include regulations and foreign policy, as well as budgets approved by a Republican Congress, and a picture begins to emerge of the Republican Party as a reliable engine of government growth... all financed by middle American tax dollars.

I'm tired of the government dictating morality and overstepping its bounds. The government should stick to protecting (and not violating) the 3 things it was designed to protect: the right to life, the right to liberty of speech and action, and the right to property.

• The Selective Service system still exists. If the government so chooses, men can be drafted (conscripted) into military service. Men can be forced to die in a war. Is this defending the right to life, the right to conscientiously object? Eminent domain exists. If the government sees fit, it can take your property away from you for government use - against your will and without compensation. Certain candidates aren't allowed to participate in political debate forums. Certain candidates are prohibited from getting their names on a ballot, even though they've met all the criteria and qualifications.
• The government makes laws and rulings on things like abortion, same-sex relations, religious wording on official government documents... things in which the government really has no say-so and has no business regulating. What each of us does in our own private lives is our business, not the government's. With the Democrats and Republicans, there's no such thing as a private citizen anymore.

I'm tired of having my options regulated away.

• Left to the free market, free from government regulation, we would be driving cleaner cars (probably electric), have cleaner power, more affordable environmentally-friendly options for housing, energy, food... everything. Why? The people demand it and the free market always follows popular demand. Why are the "green" options - building materials, vehicles, energy sources, organic foods - so much more expensive than the mainstream options? Because of government regulations. The government taxes and regulates American innovation and ingenuity right out of business. See "Who Killed the Electric Car?" if you don't believe me.

I'm tired of having to choose between the lesser of two evils. Jesse Ventura quoted Jerry Garcia yesterday: "Constantly choosing the lesser of two evils is still choosing evil."

I don't care whether or not a candidate's daughter is knocked up or if a candidate's wife is an addict... unless that same candidate is promoting a platform that is contrary to the candidate's real-life actions. Walk the walk, in other words. The Republicans are supposed to be the defenders of all that's moral and good - abstinence, tough on drugs, tough on crime... but look at the candidates! Cindy McCain stole from her own charity to fuel her drug habit. Palin's daughter is underage, unmarried and pregnant, but Palin is pushing abstinence-only education? What's wrong with this picture? Am I the only one who sees a double-standard?

With the Libertarian Party, none of that matters. Libertarians don't care about that sort of thing because it does not matter as far as a Libertarian government is concerned. Libertarians care about the issues as the apply to the government, and setting the government to what it should be - to what the framers intended it to be - and not the socialist mega-monster that it is now.

Real patriots would fight this tyranny.

Washington, Adams, Madison, Jefferson... they would be Libertarians today.

I read history (those who don't are doomed to repeat it). I read the Constitution. I see what is happening because people have tried to skirt it. I value freedom. I want America back.

That's why I'm a Libertarian.