Third party candidates get a second look

"Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, and you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost."
These words by John Quincy Adams have never rung truer. The man or woman who votes based on principle and not on party is the man or woman who doesn't waste his or her vote.
It is hard to find a principled candidate in America's exclusive two-party system since we are only given two chances for a principled candidate. However, most Americans are ignorant or unaware of the lesser-known men and women of principle running for president under a third party ticket.
One fourth of all voters nationwide are registered as independent or as members of a 'third party.' Over the last 10 years this has been the largest growing segment of voter registrations. Some states' third party or independent registrations approach 1/3 of all registered voters.
A Fox News opinion poll taken in May 2008 shows that 47 percent of the public are open to voting for a third party presidential candidate, compared to 39 percent who are not.
Highlighting the paleoconservative third party candidates are Constitution Party's Chuck Baldwin and Libertarian Party's representative Bob Barr.
The Constitution Party, the third-largest party by voter registration (behind the Republican and Democratic parties), chose Chuck Bald
win for their presidential choice. Chuck Baldwin is a radio show host, a syndicated columnist, and a Baptist minister. The platform that Baldwin stands behind is a form of libertarian and laissez-faire policies. The base of all of his policies is a conviction to uphold the constitution as the basis for all government action or inaction. Baldwin holds an isolationist foreign policy, a state's rights domestic policy, and a free market economic policy. One of the key policies for Baldwin is creating a secure border and pardoning U.S. Border Patrol Agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean.
Libertarian Party, one of the most well known and the third party that most often receives the most votes, nominated a former Republican representative of the House. Bob Barr, who represented Georgia's 7th district, is a candidate who many Libertarians, such as myself, were outraged to find receive the nomination from the party.
Bob Barr has changed his stances multiple times.
1. First he voted for the war in Iraq, now he takes the Libertarian stance against the war.
2. He not only voted for but wrote the Defense of Marriage Act, now he believes the federal government should recognize same-sex marriage.
3. He voted for the Patriot Act and Bill Clinton's Comprehensive Anti-terrorism Act of 1995; now he says that he regrets those votes.
4. He ridiculed medicinal marijuana, calling it "witchcraft" in 2002. He even wrote an amendment preventing federal legislation from lowering the penalty of illegal drug use. Now he claims that there might be some "legitimate medical uses of marijuana."
5. He tried to ban Wiccans from joining any military service; recently, he said that he heard Wiccans aren't causing as much trouble as they were when he said it.
Each of these issues are core beliefs in the Libertarian Party. I cannot bring myself to vote for someone who was unsure about these issues until he left office. Instead, I am choosing to support The Constitution Party's Baldwin, who has never wavered on any issues (such as ending the war in Iraq, repealing the Patriot act, abolishing the FDA and thereby allowing states to decide on marijuana, and allowing freedom of religion for all civilians of all faiths).
In addition, Bob Barr has shown that he refuses to work across party lines. When former presidential candidate Ron Paul invited four third-party candidates, including Baldwin and Barr, to a press conference where they could establish a common ground on certain liberty-minded issues. Barr backed out at the last minute and demanded that Paul abandon his neutral stance and endorse a candidate. Paul, upset with Barr's lack of diplomacy and courtesy, announced his support for Chuck Baldwin. This could potentially give Baldwin the 1.2 million votes that Paul received during the Republican primaries.
As long as each voter bases their vote on principle and not on party politics, then we can be assured that a principled man or woman, such as the Constitution Party's Chuck Baldwin, will hold the office of president for the next four years.