Precious votes

Are you one of those persons who spent the last eight years
complaining to anyone who would listen about the scandals, the lies, and
the policies of the Clinton-Gore administration? If the answer is yes,
who will you be voting for on Nov. 7? If the answer is George W. Bush,
then send this column to your undecided friends. If the answer is
someone else or no one, read on.

Do you truly believe that the Declaration of Independence, the United
States Constitution, and the Bill of Rights mean what those words say?
If so, then you must go to the polls on Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2000, and cast
a vote for George W. Bush.

Now, I have many Libertarian friends and acquaintances who truly
believe in those great documents and they disagree with me. We have had
many lively arguments about voting for Libertarian candidates in order
to send a message. They want to send a message to let others know how
disgusted they are with non-principled positions on the issues of the
day. They say the politicians will look at the Libertarian vote and then
take the Libertarian point of view into consideration. Yeah, sure!

What those folks are really unhappy about is that the Republican
Party won't pay enough attention to their point of view and they want to
send those folks a message. Has it worked? No, it has backfired. What
they accomplished was eight years of Clinton-Gore thanks to Ross Perot
and his Reform Party and to those votes siphoned off by the Libertarian
Party candidate.

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Sorry folks, but in an American presidential election, there are only
two viable parties: Republicans and Democrats. I wish it were not so,
but that has been the case for almost a century. With the taxpayers now
financing the primaries, the presidential nominating conventions of both
major political parties, and the presidential campaigns, it doesn't look
like it will change in the foreseeable future. Thus the thinking voter
who is concerned about the future of our constitutional liberties has no
other choice than George W. Bush.

But I can hear some of you saying that he isn't 100 percent on your
many litmus test issues: gun control, abortion, affirmative action,
school vouchers, tax reform, etc., etc. OK, that may be true. Maybe he
doesn't agree with you totally on your issues of importance, but let me
remind you that the other guy, Al Gore, probably agrees less or doesn't
agree with you at all.

So when you cast that principled vote for Pat Buchanan or Harry
Browne remember you are really voting for Al Gore -- the guy with whom
you disagree most of the time. That principled vote is one less vote for
Bush to counter all those votes that Gore will get from his supporters
who are in favor of gun control, abortion, affirmative action, throwing
money at education and getting nothing in return, and only giving you
tax relief if you qualify.

Let's just look at one issue, the issue with which I am most
familiar: gun control. If you think there may be some truth in what the
unions have been trying to peddle to their gun-owning members -- that
there is no difference between George W. Bush and Al Gore -- let's look
at the record.

In 1995 George W. Bush signed a law that allowed law-abiding citizens
in Texas the Right to carry a handgun outside their home for
self-defense. Al Gore wants to strip law-abiding citizens of the right
to carry firearms for self-defense.

In 1998 George W. Bush signed a law stopping Texas cities from filing
frivolous lawsuits against firearms manufacturers. Gore is on record
supporting a federal lawsuit against the American firearms industry,
which would ultimately put the industry into bankruptcy.

It is
already happening to Smith &
Wesson.

George W. Bush has supported Texas Project Exile, an aggressive program that targets violent felons with guns giving them mandatory sentences. Polls show that Project Exile is supported by over two-thirds of all Americans. Al Gore has been part of an administration that has allowed those who break gun laws to walk away scot-free and then goes after law-abiding gun owners.

George W. Bush hasn't reinvented himself on the gun issue. When running for governor of Texas in 1994 he told me personally that he would sign a Texas Right to Carry Law. He fulfilled that promise and he publicly supported that Texas law during the presidential debates.

On the other hand Al Gore sought the endorsement of the NRA when he ran for public office both as a congressman and a U.S. senator in the early 1980s. When he decided he would run for national office in 1988 he began to change his position. Last year he cast the tie-breaking vote in the U.S. Senate to close down all guns shows, create a national database of firearms owners and tax gun purchases. In addition his Democratic Party platform calls for national photo licensing, registration and "testing" of gun owners, as well as a ban on affordable self-defense handguns.

So when Al Gore tries to reinvent himself one more time and proclaim, "I support the rights of law-abiding gun owners and sportsmen," it's time for all gun owners, sportsmen, and freedom lovers to say "no thanks!"

Your vote can make a difference. In the 1960 presidential election, my first time voting in a presidential election, Jack Kennedy was elected by one vote per precinct. Your vote is precious; don't waste it. Let's put an end to the Clinton-Gore years and bring back honesty, responsibility and freedom by casting a vote for George W. Bush.