Bonus Episode: Can a Third Party Candidate Make it in the US?

Is a vote for a third party candidate a "wasted" vote? Is it wrong for someone to vote for a candidate simply because s/he isn't Orange Man or Senile Old Man? Does it even matter at this point?

These questions arise in a Libertarian Party debate featuring RFK Jr,  Dr. Michael Rectenwald, and Mike Ter Maat.

Links:

You can watch the panel here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CjUcXFqmr4

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progressive_Party_(United_States,_1912%E2%80%931920)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ross_Perot

https://spectrumlocalnews.com/tx/austin/news/2019/07/09/ross-perot-often-credited-for-costing-bush--92-election

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_F._Kennedy_Jr.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Rectenwald

https://www.amazon.com/Americas-Last-President-World-Kennedy/dp/B0BCXDKPGR

https://www.israellobby.org/azcdoj/

https://www.buzzsprout.com/1125110/12468460

https://www.buzzsprout.com/1125110/13606864

https://consaracytheories.com/f/in-the-middle-of-a-super-bowl-no-one-wanted

https://consaracytheories.com/f/of-course-theyre-not-concerned

Need more? You can visit the website at: https://consaracytheories.com/ or my own site at: https://saracausey.com/. Don't forget to check out the blog at: https://consaracytheories.com/blog. 

Transcript

Welcome to con-sara-cy theories. Are you ready to ask questions you shouldn't and find information you're not supposed to know? Well, you're in the right place. Here is your host, Sara Causey.

Hello. Hello, and thanks for tuning in. In tonight's bonus episode, I want to contemplate this question. Can a third party candidate actually make it in the US? Is it a matter of quote throwing your vote away? Are you wasting your time? are you causing the worst possible candidate to get elected? Should we even be thinking about it in such terms? This is on my mind, because a video popped up on YouTube RFK Jr. Debates Libertarian Presidential candidates Dr. Michael Wrekin, Wald and Mike termasuk. And this question comes up in the process of the debate. Can a third party candidate even make it? Is it just a wasted vote? Are you throwing your vote away? Should you try to figure out which between the donkey and the elephant is the lesser of two evils and just throw your support behind that person? What gives? What are we actually doing here? So let's sign up tonight and take this ride. Often in America, when we think about a third party candidate, we tend to think about a spoiler. Somebody who siphons votes away from the more popular not necessarily more well liked, but maybe slightly more palatable candidate and ensures that the one that's lesser liked is the one who actually gets elected. Let's hop over for a minute to Wikipedia as we think about Teddy Roosevelt and the Bull Moose Party. The Progressive Party was a third party in the United States formed in 1912 by former President Theodore Roosevelt after he lost the presidential nomination of the Republican Party to his former protege turn rival, incumbent President William Howard Taft. The new party was known for taking advanced positions on progressive reforms and attracting leading national reformers. The party was also ideologically deeply connected with America's radical liberal tradition. After the party's defeat in the 1912 United States presidential election, it went into rapid decline in elections until 1918, disappearing by 1920, the Progressive Party was popularly nicknamed the Bull Moose Party, when Roosevelt boasted that he felt as strong as a bull moose after losing the Republican nomination in June 1912 at the Chicago convention, I'm going to scroll down here to the tab 1912. Roosevelt ran a vigorous campaign but the campaign was short of money as the business interests which had supported Roosevelt in 1904, either back to the other candidates or stayed neutral. Roosevelt was also handicapped because he had already served nearly two full terms as president, and thus was challenging the unwritten no third term rule. In the end, Roosevelt fell far short of winning, he drew 4.1 million votes 27% well behind Wilson's 42% But ahead of TAFs 23% 6% went to socialist Eugene Debs. Roosevelt received 88 electoral votes compared to 435 for Wilson and only eight for Taft. This was nonetheless the best showing by any third party since the modern two party system was established in 1864. Roosevelt was the only third party candidate to out poll a candidate of an established party. The Republican split was essential to allow Wilson to win the presidency. In addition to Roosevelt's presidential campaign, hundreds of other candidates sought office as progressives in 1912 21, ran for governor, over 200 ran for US representative. The exact number is not clear because there were many Republican progressive fusion candidacies. And some candidates ran with the labels of ad hoc groups such as bull moose Republicans are in Pennsylvania, the Washington party in quote. So let's think about some parallels there. Especially since this video features RFK Jr. You have somebody that historically has been a Democrat, who comes from a family that's like democratic royalty. He's pretty sure he's not going to get nominated as the Democratic presidential candidate, so he goes out on his own. Now we're learning here that Teddy Roosevelt splits the republican party to a point where it allows Wilson to go in easily. Miss long pause there so we can contemplate this. Is this a factor in this election? And if so, who is he siphoning the votes away from? In more recent times, we immediately think of Ross Perot. I'll return again to Wikipedia. Ross Perot was an American business magnate, politician and philanthropist. He was the founder and chief executive officer of electronic Data Systems and perot systems. He ran an independent campaign in the 1992 US presidential election and a third party campaign in the 1996 US presidential election as the nominee of the Reform Party, which was formed by grassroots supporters of perot's 1992 campaign. Although we failed to carry a single state and either election, both campaigns were the second and third strongest presidential showings by a third party or independent candidate in US history. I'm going to scroll down just a little bit. So we learn that in June of 1992, perot led a Gallup poll with 39% of the vote. By July his campaign has fallen into disarray, and his polling starts to drop. There's the story that possibly Poppy had put some individuals in the campaign with ties to the Charlie India Alpha. There's this chaos, and perot says that he thinks Poppy's campaign might be trying to sabotage his daughter's wedding. So he's polling Well, something happens whatever that something is, something happens that causes him to hit the skids a little bit, and it's difficult for the campaign to really recover from this storm on drawing that's going on. In the 1992 election, he received 18.9% of the popular vote about 19 point 7 million votes but no Electoral College votes, making him the most successful non major party presidential candidate in terms of share of the popular vote since Theodore Roosevelt in the 1912 election. Unlike Perot, however, third party candidates since Roosevelt won multiple Electoral College votes, Robert LaFollette in 1924, Strom Thurmond in 1948, and George Wallace in 1968. Compared with Thurman and Wallace, who pulled very strongly in a small number of states, perot's vote was more evenly spread across the country. Perot managed to finish second in two states. In Maine perot received 30 point 44% of the vote ahead of part time President Bush's 30 point 39% Clinton one main with 38.77%, in inmate, okay, in Utah, parole received 27 point 34% of the vote ahead of Clinton's 24.65. Bush one Utah with 43.36%. Although perot did not want to state he received a plurality of votes in some counties. His popular vote total is still by far the most garnered for a non major party candidate, almost double the previous record set by Wallace in 1968. He tries again in 1996, but isn't really able to recapture what he did before. There was that debate with between perot and Al Gore and the one was like real let me finish. Let me finish that was widely lampoon. I remember seeing the skits on SNL. I mean, that really made him into something of a joke. Well, yeah, let me finish. And then also because of ballot access laws, he winds up having to run as an independent on many state ballots. So he winds up receiving about 8% of the popular vote in 1996. Some people argue that Ross Perot cost papi the election in 1992, and led to Bill Clinton getting elected instead, other people rebuke that idea, say that there's really not enough evidence to suggest that he siphoned enough votes away from Poppy to actually get Clinton elected. Judge for yourself. This is the narrative however, that we typically get that if you vote for somebody who is a third party or independent candidate of some kind, then you're going to take votes away from the lesser of two evils. And then you're going to wind up with whatever choice is the absolute worst actually getting into the White House. Which naturally begs the question, why are we even doing this? Why do we always have to choose between poop on a stick or poop on a plate? Like, maybe we don't want to turn period? Maybe we'd like to have better choices. Why does it always come down to having to go into a voting booth and hold your nose and try to pick who you think stinks, the less? Why? Why do we have to do it that way? These questions about third party candidates. What's the point? What should we tell people? This comes up in the YouTube video that was suggested to me, where RFK Jr. and Michael rectum Wald and Mike terma take place in this Libertarian Presidential candidate debate. Although I would say it's not really a debate, I would call it more of a forum because they don't really get into it very much with each other. It's more like the moderator will ask a question. They each have an opportunity to respond and that's that except for a period where somebody's cell phone goes off and the moderator is like, Hey, you got to turn the cell phones off, and then another dude wigs out, like wrecked and Wald is trying to answer a question and the moderator interrupts him for clarity. And this guy's like glued and fucking talk. He just loses his mind. And I'm like, this is a very weird gathering. It seems to be a bit odd. RFK Jr, as we know, has been

boiled pretty well in the media as an anti Vaxxer, a public health conspiracy theorist and He's the nephew of JFK. And Ted Kennedy was the son of Robert F. Kennedy. He's an environmental lawyer, various and sundry. Things both positive and negative have been said about him. Most of the negative things coming from mainstream sources, Michael wrecked and walled I'm not super familiar with apparently he was a professor at NYU, and retired, I think, maybe forcibly retired because I think he opened up some kind of Twitter account to lampoon the political correctness that was going on on campus, and then he got caught. So he, he's sort of known as this outspoken critic of political correctness and social justice ideology. Mike termite I'm really not familiar with very much at all. Apparently, he used to be a police officer, which seems like a very weird career path for a libertarian to take. I mean, Libertarians by and large feel that the police force exists to serve and protect the interests of the state. They're not your friends, they may claim that they're trying to serve and protect john and jane Q Public, well, we're just trying to uphold law and order. We're trying to keep everybody's rights preserved. We're trying to promote public safety. But in actuality, they're agents of the state. And you have a lot of police forces now that are basically paramilitary, the types of weaponry that they have and the technology that they have. It's not like Andy Griffith and Barney Fife back in Mayberry. So I find that to be a rather odd scenario there. I don't know how to square that. So here's the question that arises, the moderator says, I know you've heard this 1000 times. But how do we handle this? How do we handle the I can't vote for you, you're a wasted vote. You're a spoiler, a vote for you as a vote for Trump or for Biden, or whatever? I know, you hear it. How should we handle that argument? And this is with the legacy voters? How do we handle that? So Dr. wrecked and wolves responses, as with everything else, I will tell them the truth, their vote is already wasted. THE MODERATOR says okay, and then wrecked and while continues, doesn't really matter who wins if we end up with Trump Biden or another regime approved candidate really, I will tell voters that unless they vote for someone who espouses the freedom philosophy of private property rights, prosperity and non intervention, they're wasting their votes period. The dominant players are nothing but status, who will expand the state scope and penetration of the federal and central government, they will claim to oppose the military industrial complex, but send arms to other countries, this cannot go on. So I would dissolve the Zionist lobbies, I would stand up to the Zionist lobbies or even make them register as foreign agents. THE MODERATOR says foreign agents Wow, okay. Right and won't continue continues. Whereas none of the other candidates will dissolve the intelligence agencies eradicate the security state or in the regulatory regime. So this is what I'm going to do. THE MODERATOR says, Hold on, I get what you're saying. I'm just curious. So before we ever even segue into the rest of what he says there, the rest of this question of your spoiler, a vote for you is a wasted vote. Let's let's think about what he said there. Let's take this apart a little bit. Their vote is already wasted. I have to admit to you, when I heard him say this, I laughed out loud and applauded. As I was watching this on the YouTube app on my television. I was like, Well, yeah, no shit. Yeah, it's way it doesn't matter. It doesn't fucking matter whether you're talking about the donkey, the elephant, red, blue, orange MAN versus senile old man. And doesn't matter. six and one half a dozen of the other. And I know that there will be some people listening to this who bristle and say, well, the economy was better when the Orange Man was in office. And then old Biden, he took over and he just ruined everything. And so it's all his fault. And it's hard to have any sort of conversation with people that are still stuck in that mindset. It just is because they believe that the President of the United States still actually controls something. So once you get into talking about the murder of JFK, and the notion that as Jim Garrison put it, the President is a figurehead. He's a business agent. He's supposed to trot out and tell the public that we desire peace So we want peace, we want prosperity, we want everybody to have a good life. But then really behind the scenes, he's lobbying for the military industrial complex and the defense contractors. He's going along with these intelligence agencies, and the military industrial complex that want to be damn sure that we stay in a perpetual condition of war. I'm going to tell you ostensibly that we want peace, but then we're also going to throw gasoline on the fire and do everything that we can to freak you out and make you panic. Please don't forget that operation warp speed happened when Orange Man was in office, and phony tau chi and some of the other vultures that wound up working on the solution to this problem. How on earth? How I mean, I'm, I can't, I can't make that make sense on on anything that's not super duper nefarious. If he was really going to drain the swamp, why didn't me? David Knight has asked this question as well. You come to the conclusion that either he was really, really stupid. And it was difficult for him to tell who was a deep state swamp creature and who wasn't? Or he's just fucking lying. I mean, you decide what you think for yourself. I just don't think he's stupid. I think after a while you would catch on to the rules of the game. Think about JFK in the Bay of Pigs invasion. He went ahead and said, alright, I'll go along with this. You're telling me that it's going to work out and it's what the people want. And then he got tremendously embarrassed and had to go in, in the media in the public eye and be like Mia culpa, I fucked up. I did this, even though it wasn't his plan. And it wasn't his idea. He was the responsible officer and he went out there and ate crow. Privately, he was like, this shit is not gonna happen again. I'm gonna learn from this experience. Why didn't Trump learn from any experiences? I mean, why would he just keep bringing in one swamp creature after another after another? It doesn't? It doesn't make any sense unless you assume it was all bullshit. It seems to me that when he was in office, he was really using the stock market as his barometer for success. And then you have senile old man using the job market as it as his barometer for success. That's one of the reasons why we get told over and over and over again, ad nauseam ad infinitum, that the job market is great. All these open jobs for every one unemployed person, the job market and the economy are robust, and everything's great. It's just you little idiotic, peons are in a bad mood about it. And we don't understand why. Folks, my day job is in HR and staffing. I own and operate my own business. And I am not the kind of subject matter expert that sits up in an ivory tower and commands people to do things. I'm in the trenches in real time, every single day, I know what's going on in the job market, because it's my job to know what's going on in the job market. In order to advise myself properly and have my business run, right, and to advise clients on best strategies, I have to know what's going on in real time. And I am not hearing people saying, I'm just getting one job offer after another, I've got multiple offers in hand, my phone won't stop ringing. This is great. I feel like I'm living off the fat of the land. No fucking body is saying that right now. I'm not hearing that from anybody. Even in these arenas where we're told, Well, there's constant shortages in health care, it is always in demand. I'm not hearing that. So if you want to go in the direction of the Orange Man versus the senile old man and try to pick whatever you think is the lesser of two evils, and you imagine that we had it better when Orange Man was in office, the economy was better. We weren't getting bent over and screwed by inflation. I want you to also think about this. Operation warp speed and the STEMI checks. Fire up the printing press. Let's do some QE. Let's hand out money. Let's print out that Fiat bullshit currency and hand it out willy nilly. You had to know inflation was coming. I understand believe me that there's always this tug of war between well what did the current administration inherit versus what did they do on on their own? What what coffee cups are they responsible for for themselves? The bill for all of that printing up of fiat currency during Operation warp speed, that shit was going to come due. If you want more of that be my guest, but I surely do not. So when you have wrecked and Wald saying that your votes already wasted. I agree with him. I also agree with this statement. Does it really matter who wins if we ended up with Trump or with Biden or some other regime approved candidate. Does it really matter? No, I don't think it really matters at all. It's you're gonna get six and one half a dozen of the other, but they're all piggies that eat slop out of the same trough.

I will tell voters that unless they vote for someone who espouses the freedom philosophy of private property rights, prosperity and non intervention, they're wasting their votes period. The dominant players are nothing but status who will expand the state scope and penetration of the federal government and the central government? I think that's true. It used to be the the idea was that the Republican Party was for smaller government. But that's not the case. That's not real reality. You might have Democrats saying, well, we want all of these federal and social programs, we're willing to do tax hikes, and the Republicans ostensibly pushing back. But have you noticed that the government always grows and always just gets bigger and bigger and bigger. The state spying apparatus always gets more and more monumental, there really is nobody up there, that's going to be like, I think we need to start abolishing agencies, I think it's time for us to start shutting shit down. They don't do that. They will claim to oppose the military industrial complex, but send arms to other countries this cannot go on. I agree. I feel like this also fits in with Jim Garrison's thesis about being the business agent who tells the public that peace is the goal, whereas in reality, it's all about keeping the military, industrial and military intelligence complexes churning and burning. Now he talks about standing up to the Zionist lobbies and making them register as foreign agents when wrecked and wild brings this up the moderators like, oh, foreign agents, wow. Okay, like, Oh, this is the most shocking thing that he's ever heard. But it's not without precedent. Monica Wesak. In her book, America's last president, talks about the efforts that were made by JFK, and also his brother Bobby, who was the attorney general at that point, to have the American Zionist Council a lobby group register as foreign agents under the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938. I'll read some text for you now. The foreign Agents Registration Act, as outlined by the Department of Justice requires agents of foreign principals who are engaged in political activities or other activities specified under the statute to make periodic public disclosure of their relationship with the foreign principal, as well as activities, receipts and disbursements and supportive those activities. disclosure of the required information facilitates evaluation by the government and the American people of the activities of such persons in light of their function as foreign agents and quote, this is not without precedent, and I will also drop some links. I mean, I do recommend Monaco's book, America's last president, I suspect we lost a lot more than people realize that we did that day in November. I think if people really knew, if they were less focused on who JFK was having sex with and his downtime and more focused on what he was actually trying to do for America, they would come to some different conclusions. But I'll also drop some information from Israel lobby.org, where you can read about this struggle between JFK and Bobby to get this group to register as a foreign agent. So what wreckin walled is talking about here is not all that shocking. And it's not without precedent, it's just shocking to us, because we can't imagine that somebody from either the Republican or the Democrat party today asking for such a thing. So it goes on to say, whereas none of the other candidates will dissolve the intelligence agencies eradicate the security state or in the regulatory regime. So this is what I'm going to do. And I agree with him there now whether or not he would actually do that if he were elected, who the hell knows? But no, no, whether it's orange MAN or senile man, they're not going to dissolve intelligence agencies, they're not going to eradicate this security state, and they're not going to end a regulatory regime, that will not happen. So the moderator Bunsen and says, Hold on, I get what you're saying. I'm just curious, how does that stop the spoiler piece? I mean, I get what you're saying. But that still, if I'm afraid that you're the spoiler, if I believe that you're the wasted vote, how does that change my mind as a voter? I'm the legacy voter I've been voting democrat or republican for 20 or 30 years. How does it stop that? So wrecked in wall replies, Well, listen, it's not enough to just tell people what they want to hear. We need to tell them what they need to hear. And what they need to hear is the truth period. They're throwing away their votes as it is, and what are they getting in return? They're getting $34 trillion worth of debt. Mm hmm. They're getting a completely runaway economy that's headed towards the drain. That's what they're getting in exchange for their vote. I agree with that. Except I would say it's not headed towards the drain, it's not circling the drain, we're already in the shits. I wish there was a more polite way to say it. And I wish that there was a more optimistic way to say it. But I don't think there is. The job market is already a hot dumpster fire. If you think about, there's a documentary that I reviewed on my daytime podcast, I'll drop a link to that episode, if you want to check it out. I talk about the PBS documentary The Age of easy money. And there was an official from the Fed that outright admitted the system died in total in 2008. It was like all the blood went out of the blood vessels and the capillaries and the whole system died in oh eight. We've just been kicking the can down the road ever since then. And at some point, we're going to reach the juncture where the can can't be kicked down the road any farther. I feel like that day, not terribly far into the future. I feel like we're already down the drain. We're just not acknowledging it. I also recorded last year, an episode for the daytime podcast titled Are we in a silent depression. And it was a very popular episode. Because I feel like we all know, deep down that the economy is in bad shape. But we're supposed to go along with this mainstream media gaslighting to Silent depression, we're not going to talk about it, we're not going to make the same mistake that we did in 2008. In the 30s, it was clear the Great Depression was going on. In 2008. It was clear, you had massive unemployment, you had massive foreclosures. People couldn't buy a job. It was really a nightmare. And it was making headlines people knew Oh, shit, well, let's not make that mistake again. Let's just tell the peons that everything is great. And if you think things are terrible, it's all in your head. You're just a fool. So now that rectum wall has had his response, the moderator moves over to RFK Jr. I know you hear this, you hear well, I can't vote for you. I like you. But I can't do it because a vote for you is a vote for Biden or a vote for you as a vote for Trump, or whatever they're saying each day. How do you handle that to a voter and RFK, Jr. Response? Well, I would agree with what was just said, I think 80% of the American public doesn't want to see President Trump or President Biden run again, doesn't want to see this contest. So if you're voting for them, you're already wasting your vote. You're throwing away a vote. And aren't we all tired of voting for the lesser of two evils? Yeah. You only want to vote for somebody, somebody who you like, my favourability ratings are now higher than President Trump or President Biden or any politician in this country. Mine are 20 points ahead of the other candidates in terms of net favourability. The other thing I would say to people is number one, President Biden does not need my help to lose the election to President Trump. And I intend to take votes from President Biden and President Trump I intend to win the election. My polling numbers now in the battleground states are averaging 24 points. And all I have to do is get to 34. I'm gaining votes by one point a month on average since August, all I have to do is get to 34 to win the election. That means I have to take about four and a half points from each of the candidates. And I feel that is within my reach, and that the American people should be able to have a chance to vote for somebody that's actually going to change the system. THE MODERATOR says so your app, your answer, actually, is that it's not a wasted vote because you can actually win. That's your answer. RFK Jr. says exactly. I mean, is there validity to them. When we think back to Ross Perot, that he was polling very well. And he was the front runner until all of a sudden his campaign hits the skids. There's this weird story where he thinks that Poppy has used the Charlie India alpha to infiltrate his campaign. They're threatening his daughter's wedding. I mean, who knows what really happened there? What a great episode that would make right we shouldn't look into some conspiracy theories on that and record an episode or two about what the hell happened to derail Ross Perot, you know, there's a story there. And anything that involves Poppy and the Charlie India alpha, you know, it's gonna be a fucked up story. So is there validity to this? I mean, here's my thought. This is just my opinion. And it could be wrong. Frankly, I hope it is wrong. If RFK Jr, is a straight arrow, if this is legitimate, if he's not in the race to be a spoiler, if he's not a paid shill of some kind, if he's a straight arrow, and all of this is a sincere effort. He's not going to make it anywhere near the White House. Just long pause there. I mean, I'm sorry, I hate to say it in such crass blunt terms, but it's not going to happen. I feel like you know, JFK got in there. And he was really trying, he was really attempting to do what he saw is the right thing, particularly for John and Jane Q Public, he had plenty of battles with Wall Street, plenty of battles with big business. These are all things that need to be blog posts and podcast episodes.

I feel like the powers that be, have done a really good job of making sure that that will not happen again. You know, then you have a few years later, Bobby Kennedy is trying to run and he's gaining momentum, and then he's murdered. I just don't see this happening. I'm thinking of that scene. Honestly, in the movie, the devil's advocate where Al Pacino is trying to get Kevin who's played by Keanu Reeves to take this high profile murder case. And Eddie Lomax is standing there going, I know that you're the master, I know that you have a really good eye for talent. I mean, you are the best, but I don't see this happening. That's how I feel if he's a straight arrow. And this is all legitimate. And he means what he says, And he truly cares about the public. It's not going to happen, whatever needs to happen to put a monkey wrench into his campaign to derail this whole thing all out Ross Perot, and what the hell happened to him? Why did he hit the skids? I mean, you know, Jim Garrison said, you're either discredited, removed or killed, but they're not going to let anybody really pose a major problem. So what's the end game here? I don't know. I don't know. I'm just giving you my theory that if he's a straight arrow, and all of this is legit, as he continues to gain popularity, that's going to become a problem. Now if he's some sort of paid shill, and this is all just a joke, to siphon votes away from one and elect the other. Okay, it's whatever. Time will tell. So his response is that he doesn't feel that voting for him is a waste of time or a wasted vote because he believes he can actually win. So now the moderator turns to Mike termagant says, How do you handle it? I know you're out there. I see you out there hustling I see you doing the work. And you've got to hear I love you. But look, a vote for you as a vote for Biden to vote for you as a vote for Trump. A wasted vote, you hear it right. So Mike termasuk responds to vote for me as a vote for freedom and a vote for libertarianism. The reason we need to encourage people to recognize that a vote for the legacy parties is a waste of their vote is because when you vote for a Republican, you're sending the signal that the Republican Party platform and parenthetically, the Republican Party actions are okay with you. Is that really the signal that you want to send, because they assume that when you vote for them, you're in love with them, the same thing with the Democratic Party. So if you are in love with them, knock yourself out, you should vote for them. But the truth is, you're wasting your vote if you don't vote for your values. When you vote for your values, and you support someone who's not a member of that duopoly. You force the other parties into taking consideration of your principles, your positions, your values, where you want the nation to go. If you don't take advantage of the opportunity to send that signal, that signal don't get sent. That's what's so important about it. One of the things I really enjoy about Mr. Kennedy being in the race is that now we're going to have three choices, we're going to be up to four choices. It gives people more choice in order to better align their own values and principles with the choices of the politicians that they support. The reason this is so important is because we don't want to be stuck in this position where well, I need to either vote for a duopoly so that I can vote for a winner or I need to vote for someone as a protest vote. So before we get into this notion of a protest vote, is it true? If you vote for a Republican or a Democratic candidate, do they automatically assume that what you're telling them is I love what you're doing? I endorse you? I'm not sure if that's the case. I think at this point, they'll just take whatever they get. I mean, I really movie careful here. I mean, I really think it doesn't matter because well, you remember Tom Hanks, his character, Doug, on the SNL skit black Jeopardy. We all know they've already decided he was going to win before they even hold it. I mean, no, we all kind of assume that that's the case at this point. So I don't necessarily believe that. If you vote for the Democrats, they automatically assume that it's a swimming endorsement of everything that they're doing. Or if you automatically if you vote for a Republican, that automatically means you're telling them yes to do more of what you're doing. We support it. I don't really think that they care that much. I don't think they give a damn as to whether you're saying I endorse you or you're just standing there holding your nose trying to pick the lesser of two evils. It's all about are you going to go along to get along or are you going to be a problem Powell is The same thing in corporate America, the person who is obedient, the person who doesn't make waves is much more likely to get hired and retained, and then somebody who's a maverick, somebody who's different, somebody who might actually wake it up and shake it up in the workplace. Here's a little helpful hint for me to you. That's not what they really want. So Mike termite continues, we don't want either one of those, we want you to vote for someone that you are really in love with, whose values do align with yours so that you can push the American political system in the right direction. It's a noble idea. It's a warm and fuzzy to think that way. Well, hey, I should be able to vote for somebody that I'm in love with. And it'll really change the system. Are we anywhere near a point where a vote is going to change the system? I

mean, let's think about this. For my money, the last person that got in there and was actually going to try to do something for common folk, was murdered in broad daylight. And anybody since then, who's tried who said, You know what, I want to bring a breath of fresh air, I want to do something different. They either as Jim Garrison said, discredited, removed, killed. I'm not sure at this point that you're going to find somebody that you really feel in love with. And if you did, that they would even get elected and be able to do jack squat for you. I know, Sarah, you're being so cynical, you're being such a downer. I'm just out here spitting the truth, as I see it. Maybe you agree, maybe you don't. But I'm telling you. That's my perspective. So the moderator says, Let me bring that up, though. Don't we want the protest vote? Don't we also want the person who, and this is a personal experience. I remember back in 2000, I voted for Nader, I couldn't tell you one of naters policies, I couldn't have told you any of them. And 2020. I knew he wasn't them. So I was like, That's my guy. In fact, I thought that Nader replace Perot, I thought they were the same party. That is how ignorant I was to politics. I voted for him. Don't we want that too. So Mike termasuk responds when we want a protest vote, but we want it in the following way. We recognize that our philosophy, our principles, and our solutions are completely counter to the way that the government has been run for the past three generations. That's the type of protests that we want, not a blind protest. It's okay if people vote blindly for us as a protest. And that's okay. Right. But that's not really what we're talking about. What we're talking about is recognizing that our platform is a protest, because it's in such stark contrast to the status quo. So the moderator at this point talks to rekt inworld and says, Do you want the protest vote or no? I mean, you're about principle, I know. But if someone's like, I don't know what rec stands for? I have no idea. But he's not one of them. I'm gonna vote for him. Is that okay? Or is that not good enough. wrecked and mauled response, I'm not going to turn it down. I will take whatever votes we can get. But let's talk about what we really need to be doing here. It's not just waiting until election day to get votes, we need to create more libertarians at large so that when it comes time for the election, we're not waiting for these protest votes at the last minute, we need to be operating far upstream from that we need to be operating and creating the culture that develops libertarians out of ordinary people, because there is a real thirst and a real hunger for the libertarian message. And that's what we need to get across. So now the moderator goes to RFK Jr. So let me go to Mr. Kennedy, you know that there are a lot of people who are happy you're running because they know your name. You're not the other two, you're not the legacy party and they're jumping on board. And they may or may not know your policies. Are you okay with people just going Hey, love the name? Or do you need to get people to understand what you're standing for? I'm going to butt in automatically before we ever even get to RFK juniors response, you have to understand what people are standing for. What I have said before about RFK Jr, specifically is I wouldn't go into the voting booth and go Well, his last name is Kennedy. I'm gonna assume he's the same as Jack. I really liked jack. So I guess I'd like him to well mark the line here and go on. No, that's crazy. You have to evaluate individual people. Figure out for yourself what you think of that person set aside their last name, their political dynasty, their legacy, whatever the hell they're trying to trot out there. What do you what do you stand for? Who are you as a person, an individual person? I've told you before I myself did not care for that ad at all. That was a rip off of one of Jack's ads from 1960. I did not like that. I was sat there trying to watch my Super Bowl half my bread and circus. didn't really care much for either one of the teams but I'm like, hey, it's a night of football. You could do worse. to pop some popcorn, watch your football, decompress for a couple of hours. And then that popped up. And I was like, God, what a gut punch? How about you just fucking remind us of what we don't have anymore. Thank you ppreciate that, I didn't like that. So you have to be really careful of this idea. Well, they have the same last name or this person's of a particular party, figure out for yourself, what their platform is, what do they believe? What do they say they will do? What's their record? You know, if they already have a political record, what have they done so far? And it's like how Dr. Phil says, the best predictor of future behavior is past relevant behavior. What What have they stood for historically? What have they really done? RFK Jr's response to the moderator is the odd thing about what the polling shows is that my strongest support is with young people. And those are people who are not that familiar with my family, the people who are most familiar with Camelot, who lived through that era and who want to support me, because they also strongly support then there's like, Some, somebody's cell phone goes off. And there's this whole big kerfuffle. So he kind of gets his thought and erupted here. People who you would think would vote for me because they lived through Camelot. They have affection for my family, they love me when I was the environmental leader, those groups I'm least popular with, I'm going to button and say, I think that's another reason why you had a cadre of younger people who thought that that Superbowl ad was great. I remember having a discussion with one guy, and he's like, Well, I had no idea that was a rip off of John F. Kennedy's ad. And I'm like, well, well, why would you for one thing, why would you you're not old enough. I'm not old enough, either. I'm just a history enthusiast. A lot of people aren't anymore. So he's making this point that people who remember Jack and Bobby are not necessarily people that are automatically rah, rah for RFK, Jr. and the groups that I'm doing best with our young people, and also a lot of Trump voters, people who aren't particularly enamored with the Kennedy name. But what's wonderful for me is when we do rallies, and we're selling out virtually every venue that we go to, there are 1000s of kids there, and they're coming in almost every day, people come up to me with tears in their eyes and say you're the first person who has given me hope. In 2013, there was a poll taken of Americans under 35. And they were asked, Are you proud of the United States of America? 85% said, Yes. In the same poll taken four months ago, 18% said, yes. That does not surprise me a bit. THE MODERATOR interjects, wow. But it's like what what is there to feel proud of? I'm well over the age of 35. Maybe not too too far. I mean, I don't want to make it sound like I'm 80 years old, but I'm above the age of 35. I was born towards the late part of Gen X. What I mean, what is there for a young person to really feel rah, rah flagwaving about right now, the job markets a hot dumpster fire, the economy sucks, it becomes clearer and clearer that these fat cats and hyper elites it's like the tube of toothpaste, they just squeeze the toothpaste up to their level, so that the people at the bottom and in the middle have nothing. It costs more than ever to go to the grocery store. People are having to worry about affording food and gasoline and energy. It's more difficult than ever to buy a house. In terms of the affordability of it. I understand that during the 80s recession, the interest rates were a lot higher, a lot higher. I think my parents in 83, I think their mortgage was like 18%, something like that. So yes, the interest rates can get much higher than they are now. But in terms of the price tag that's on the house. And then the fact that typically, it's shit quality, and these horror stories of people getting buyer's remorse and buying new construction during the pandemic. And the stuff is like so slap bang constructed, it's falling apart. Why would somebody Oh, and then you have the Forever wars, we've got a sia Ukraina that feels like it's been going on forever. Then you've got all this stuff going on in the Middle East. And then now you've got stuff going on on the continent of Africa. And you're like Jesus Christ, man, where does it end? So why would somebody be like we all feel great about all of this? And then why would somebody feel that way? So RFK continues. So this is a generation that completely lost hope in our country. And that's the generation that's coming to my speeches. Those are the kids who stopped me every time I walk through a grocery store through an airport down the sidewalk, and they say how grateful they are that they had withdrawn from the political process that they're in because there's somebody finally who's giving them hope for their generation for their future and for their country. And that is, for me, the most touching experience. And the experience for me that's made all of the and then he kind of trails off a little bit and says you know There are many challenges in the campaign for my family, there's a lot for all of these gentlemen, they should all be tremendously respected because this is a hardship. And they're all standing up for something they believe in, which is really important in this country. But for me, whatever sacrifice that I've made has been compensated 100 times over by seeing these kids come up to me every single day, in every venue. So this is an interesting concept. If you vote for a third party candidate, are you just wasting your time?

And I wish I could give you some hope on that. You know, especially on my daytime broadcast, I always say I know I'm supposed to end on a high note, I know I'm supposed to give you some kind of hope. People really get a bit defensive and edgy when a content creator doesn't. Hey, yay, woohoo, sunshine and rainbows. Everything is shitting out there. But don't worry, it will get better. I'm not. It's not a wasted vote in the sense that you're sending a message you are. You're trying to live by your own code of ethics and say I just refuse and I get that I wouldn't go in a voting booth and vote for senile or orange man. And try to Eeny meeny miny, moe, which is the lesser of two evils fuck that went away in the waste of my time and my gasoline to go up to a voting space and do that. I don't want either one of them. I'm tired of them both. They both make me sick. I've had enough. You have the power brokers at Davos saying that they think Orange Man is gonna get elected and they're fine with it. I wrote a blog post on the conspiracy theories website saying of course, they're not worried. And I'll fucking worry. They're the real power brokers, they're the real agents of control, whoever they want to go in is going to go in and do their bidding. So of course, they're not worried. For me, it's not a wasted vote in the sense of somebody expressing themselves and trying to adhere to their code of ethics, as they say, in this forum, picking somebody that you actually like and trying to send a message, I want more of this. It's not a wasted vote in that sense. will it count? will it matter? Will it help that person to actually get elected? I will just give you my opinion and say, I don't think so. I don't think so. What I said earlier, is what I really mean, if RFK Jr, or any of these other people doesn't, it doesn't even have to be him specifically, he's just such a good example, because of what happened, unfortunately, to jack into Bobby. If he's a straight arrow, if all of this is legit, and he really does want to try to do the things he's been talking about to help John and Jane Q Public, they're not going to let him anywhere near that White House. It's not going to happen. It just won't. And I want a deep and dark awful thought. But I just feel like you've got these young people who are getting galvanized to feel excited about what RFK Jr is talking about. And when he doesn't make it into the White House, they're going to feel crushed. And I had this really deep, philosophical, dark philosophical conversation with a friend of mine, that just the other night, and so crazy, there's like this weird moment of like deja vu synchronicity that we were talking about something else, we're not even talking about this libertarian panel, nothing about RFK, Jr, none of that. But he was talking about the analogy of a Python and how like, you just get worn down. Whether it's like a salesman that's trying to goad you into doing something or it's the government that's trying to goad you into doing something. It's like the idea of a Python. You're the you're the prey inside the pythons coiled body, and it'll squeeze and then it'll let up and then it'll squeeze harder and then it'll lead up and then it'll squeeze harder, and like the squeezes are harder and harder until that victim that prey animal dies, it's suffocated. So then the Python can just swallow it whole and the victim is not thrashing about because it's already deceased. So it makes the pythons work that much easier, just squeezes the life and the breath out of its prey. I feel like that could happen to these young people who feel so galvanized and so hurt by this movement that RFK Jr. has if he doesn't win, which I don't believe he will, unless he's not a straight arrow. If he really is some kind of shill, some kind of front some kind of bag man which to be clear, I am not saying that he is. Notice I am always saying the word if if he's some kind of bag Man, if he's some kind of front and he gets in there, God help us all because who knows what the only he'll actually do. But if he's a straight arrow, and everything that he's saying is what he truly believes and what he intends to do if he's elected, he's not going to get in. And so then what happens, you have these people that get super excited, super pumped, they think they can believe in the system again. And they really are going to have some say, they're really going to stick it to these fat cats and turn it all around. And then when he doesn't win, it's like the wind is going to come right out of their sails. It's It's like what my friend and I were talking about with the Python. You just get to that point where you can't even fight it off anymore. You're that prey animal in the clutches of the Python and there's nothing more that you can do. You're just spent. So then what happens? Well, then you have a whole other generation of people that are like, Screw it. It's not even worth it. Who cares? dark times, man. Wow. Wow. I know, I know, I know. I'm supposed to give you some kind of hot air and hopium. Maybe you have a different opinion. Maybe that's the hope you have I can give you maybe you see this in a different light and you think change is possible. You think maybe one of these third party candidates could win. So I will leave it there. I will put the question back to you. Do you think that voting for a third party candidate is a wasted vote? Do you think it's a protest vote? Do you think it will cause one candidate to go in and will fracture? Biden's vote and cause Orange Man to go back or it will fracture orange man's vote and cause senile old man to go back? I mean, I don't even know how he could handle being back in there. i He needs to be in a retirement home and just eat his ice cream and poop his britches. I don't even know how he can handle it. So when do you see happening? A point to ponder. Stay a little bit crazy. And I will see you in the next episode.

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