It's time we make election day count

by Rob Yates, November 2022
LPNC Communications Director

Wake up and panic, everyone, if you haven’t voted! Remember that this (like every election before it, and very election after it) is the *most important election in our lifetime*!

It would be comical if it wasn’t so consequential, watching the two parties paint the stakes as successively higher each year, should the horrible event come to pass where the other party wins, that is. Then we rinse, wash, and repeat, and wait for the next election cycle when we are told that, no, forget last time, this is the most important election of our lifetime, and if the other party wins, our democracy will crumble, fascists (or is it communists, I can’t keep track anymore) will take over the country, and everyone who isn’t a disabled trans person of color will be forced to sacrifice their children and then go work in a gulag (or is it the straight, rich, white men who are safe this time? Again, it’s so hard to keep track).

With all the hyperbole around each election, the constant bombardment of crisis pimping from the perpetual news cycle, and the rhetoric increasingly nasty from a populace that is more polarized every minute, it can be hard to find a reason to go vote. In fact, there is an argument to be made that the act of voting is supporting a system that is rigged against anyone not on team red or team blue, and voting is a tacit endorsement of that system. When that system represents a massive, twisted game where the players are politicians and special interests with bottomless pockets, and the rest of us are the collateral damage, it’s easy to understand why one would want to do everything possible to not support that system.

Despite this, I am here to implore you, please, go vote, and vote Libertarian! All we have is our grassroots drive, fighting for each inch, to take back the power from the politicians, and voting is the quickest way to advance this cause.

The game is so rigged it isn’t even cute anymore

Over the last few months I got into a bit of a Twitter back-and-forth with Kyle Parrish, a useful idiot running for NC’s 5th as a house candidate. I’m not one to shy away from some verbal sparring, but I don’t look for it either; I went after Kyle because, unprovoked, he was spouting off really disgusting things about Libertarians in general, and attacking David Coatney, Libertarian NC House candidate, over some manufactured nonsense (not fit to reprint here, this newsletter is far too classy for his drivel).

David is well-equipped to handle himself, to be clear, but this unprovoked nastiness demanded attention, and many members of the LPNC joined in over subsequent weeks. For my part, I tried to be respectful (mostly), and consistently challenged his points, even asking him repeatedly if he would debate me. Eventually, after ignoring, deflecting, hiding, and cowering, he blocked me, and that saga ended (for the moment).

I am writing this to convince you to vote, though, not to repeat some silly story about a Twitter fight. I mention it because Kyle has about as much of a chance of winning his race as I do, and I live in Mecklenburg and am not on the ballot. Nevertheless, he attacks anyone not on Team Democrat, viciously, repeatedly. He spews vile and hate-filled rhetoric, mostly against Republicans, but with a healthy dose of anti-Libertarianism in there, and then occasionally asks why the country isn’t more united, and says "only Democrats" can bring us back together.

Again, none of this should come as a surprise to anyone reading this. The only thing the two sides of the uniparty seem adept at is spitting venom at anyone on the other team. Even within the party, Kamala cackled like a stoned hyena when Colbert asked her about disparaging remarks she made about the man for whom she would eventually work as Vice President. Her excuse, “it was a debate,” is a perfect example of how the political game is designed for the players to go all-in to win, only to win, and to win at all costs. This is not unique to either major party, and it is not going to change as long as the prize is more power to hoard.

Kyle learned that he was a pawn in a game here (right at the 10-minute mark), and it is almost enough to make me feel bad for him. As a worthless candidate with no chance of winning, the party for whom he parrots and champions has done essentially nothing to support him, a fact he laments a bit, not realizing how damning his self-pity is as it speaks to the broken system as a whole.

They would never spend any money or resources on someone who can't win for them. It's about winning, none of the leaders of the other two parties care about principles. This is what we're up against. This is why doing nothing is not an option.

Libertarians can make a difference in a way we never have before

Recently, we received some of the greatest news of 2022 – North Carolina became the second state in the U.S. to pass 50,000 registered Libertarians! Trailing only California and its massive population, we are at the vanguard of the Liberty movement. Our message is the right one, and it is spreading

Of course, this is not something that happened overnight. Rather, it is the diligent work of dedicated LPNC volunteers who have pushed us this far for years. And it is immense progress since 2008, when North Carolinians regained the ability register as Libertarian.

I readily acknowledge that this game is rigged. I understand your hesitation to vote, and your concerns that you are throwing a vote away or even validating this broken system that crushes people in its own relentless power hoarding. But sitting back and doing nothing guarantees the outcome.

Instead, have some hope, and a little faith, that our message, the right message, will win more hearts and minds, and we will grow organically, regaining the power that was taken from us. One way to help do that is to vote Libertarian.

Voting matters. It matters for ballot access, it matters to uniparty candidates who think we are spoiling their elections, it matters for making Liberty issues prominent on voters' minds, and it matters to cement our position as serious participants in this conversation that has been hijacked by partisan self-interest.

So go vote. Then come join us for an election party, or come to a protest against State tyrant over-reach, or just donate $5 a month if that’s what you can do (if every registered Libertarian donated $5 monthly, we would bring in $2.5 million annually, which is still not even a hundredth of uniparty spend in NC in 2020, but we could do a lot with it). Then, keep voting, and keep showing up. Find a place to volunteer. Recruit someone else. And vote again. We will win if we don’t give up.

To quote WakeLP Chair Travis Groo, "…it’s a gold rush. Vote gold!"