All of my life I have had an interest in politics and the people that help create the great nation that we call home. The John Adams and Thomas Jeffersons of the past that took an idea and made it a reality. Bringing forth a nation and how it was to be run was certainly no easy task for those at the dawn of our liberty. I have always looked back to those visionary founders and love reading all that I can about their lives and the earliest times of the United States of America! It is that information that helps me formulate my observations of the times at hand…

Even though it’s been close to 30 years ago I can still remember my first vote for President and all of the research I did to make sure that my vote went to the right person.  The election of 1980 was between President Jimmy Carter – Democrat, Ronald Reagan- Republican and John Anderson – Independent.

I couldn’t vote for Carter, in my mind he was a failure. High gas prices, inflation, recession and the Iranian hostage crisis would pretty much sum up what he accomplished in his final days before the election.

I liked Reagan and was drawn to his ideas and principles. He was a great orator…probably one of the best to come along in a lifetime. You couldn’t help but like him.

It was during the debates that I made up my mind. John Anderson was the man I felt best went with my views of the nation at that time. He answered the questions and didn’t do the standard political dance.

The day of that election came and I was up early to go cast my vote with my parents. Our polling place was a small one room township hall that wasn’t even open when we got there. I remember sitting on the stairs…nervous…hoping that my vote would count. When I finally did get to close the curtain and flip those incredibly shiny levers I was proud to be part of the process! I was an American! And in our country we can change the government leaders without a coup…no violence or bloodshed…we were truly free!

Anderson didn’t win, but what the country got in return was probably one of the greatest Presidents of our lifetime…Ronald Reagan. I can vividly remember sitting in school with the Inauguration on television and a split screen with the hostages being let free in Iran. Seems the captors did have the fortitude to go against Reagan…deep in their minds they must have known he would have brought the entire might of the U.S. down upon them.

Reagan brought the pride back in being a U.S. citizen!

The next election found me voting for Reagan and pulling the lever for an uplifted American spirit…

In 1988, Reagan’s Vice President…George H. W. Bush ran a successful campaign against Democrat Michael Dukakis. My vote went for Bush. I was impressed with his long list of accomplishments…Naval Aviator, Congressman, Ambassador and Director of Central Intelligence. His experiences, I felt, would serve our country well.

In 1992, Democrat Bill Clinton defeated Bush to become President…without my vote.

In 1996, The Republicans (the party I felt I had more in common with) nominated Bob Dole to run for President. I hated the choice. Nice man, but not charismatic. I ended up voting for him…he lost!

The year 200o was an important year in politics for myself and the rest of the country. It was the first time I would take an active role in the election process.  8 years of the Clintons was enough, and honestly I couldn’t stand Al Gore, I actively campaigned for George W. Bush! I attended rallies, stood on street corners, waved elect Bush signs and became a President’s Club member of the Republican Party. I was in it deep and had invested both time and money to be part of the election process. I have two great stories from the election trail to tell you. The first being my first Presidential election rally and taking my son John Ashton with me to witness what happens and the second a large rally at the State Fairgrounds where I would meet up with the Presidential nominee again!

I’ll begin with the first rally. My son, John Ashton, had been learning about the election in school and since I was a volunteer I was able to get tickets for an early morning Republican rally where Bush was going to be speaking. John was excited…and so was I. When we got to the rally it was really packed but John and I were able to get seats that were only 11 rows away. The crowd was energetic and you could feel it. After it was over, the Bush’s did a meet and greet with the crowd but it was too chaotic so John and I decided to leave. On my way out a reported from Channel 13 stopped me and asked if I would answer a few questions. I was comfortable with TV so that was no problem. The reporters biggest question for me was…what did I think of Bush’s chances in the upcoming election? My answer…for Bush to win, he would have to win Florida! How true that was and I’ll talk more about that in a moment. On with my story. After the interview John and I walked out to our car. It was a long way from the University and John was still brimming from all of the excitement of the morning. It was at that moment I heard cars behind me. It wouldn’t have normally bothered me but I was walking in the middle of an empty aisle. As I moved aside I noticed it was a line of limos and one was slowing down next to me. The window rolled down…I knew the face. The man smiled at my son and I and then thanked me for coming! I looked at him in the eyes and said…’Go get them George! You’re going to be fantastic! My heart was racing and it was one of the coolest moments of the campaign. He could have rode past us and done nothing, but for him to literally stop what was going on to say that to me and my son…in the middle of nowhere…was incredible.

The second time I had a chance to meet Bush was at the final rally of the campaign in Tampa at the State Fairgrounds. I had been given the chance to be in the greeting line, near the bus as he arrived! What happened next endeared me to the man that would become President. As the bus arrived and drove in to the arena the crowd erupted, my friend Alan and I went wild! Bush steps from the bus and starts to greet those of us that were there. He shook my hand…looked me in the eye…and then all of a sudden his formality turned in to that of a best friend. He leaned forward and said, ‘Can you believe this? Look at all of these people!’ He had seen crowds like this many times I’m sure, but it was the way he said it that stuck in my mind. I then went on to introduce him to Alan. As soon as he shook Alan’s hand he came back to me and grabbed my hand as he talked to other’s around me. It was like I was the pillar that he used to keep himself up. After a moment I told him that I wanted him to meet someone else that I had the chance to get acquainted with, Miss Wheelchair Florida. The angle for him to greet her was odd…there was a metal rail and she was a few feet away. What happened next makes me laugh to this day. George reaches across the rail and uses me and Alan to keep himself from falling completely over! We held him like that while as he talked to her. He then gets back upright and looks me in the eye and says, ‘John, thanks for being here!’

The night of the election was electric! I was in St. Petersburg at the Republican Party’s official party at the Vinoy. We had heard that earlier in the day a phone bank was calling residents in the eastern part of the state near Miami and telling them their vote might not have counted! Daley and the Democratic machine had something up their sleeve and it wasn’t until later that night and early morning did we know exactly what they had planned! I had brought a friend, Todd Boone, and he was surprised at the people that were there. Charlie Crist and I had struck up a conversation earlier in the night and spent much of the time watching the results as they were called, the miscalled and recalled again. I couldn’t help but wonder how that night was going to end. The results went so late in to the night that many of us decided to leave the Vinoy. Charlie told me that he and a few friends were going to go to a friends restaurant to watch the late night returns and I was welcome to come along, and, of course, I did! I’m not going to go over the rest of the night, because we all, as Americans went through it. Let’s just say…I used punch card ballots in my voting earlier that day and it honestly was incredibly easy to do. Nothing sinister about it! It was the manipulation of the system, by Mayor Daly (the grand manipulator of elections in Chicago), that stuck in my mind the most.

After all of the turmoil of the election and Bush being determined the winner, he barely had enough time to move in when 9-11 happened. Say what you will…President Bush was the right man, at the right time! His call to action…his steady hand led America through what could have been an even larger tragedy…the destruction of American! For his leadership I will always be thankful.

Bush went on to beat John Kerry for a second term with my vote in the over 50% of American’s that voted for him! I honestly could not stand John Kerry as he was in the same mold as Al Gore. Always talking down to the American people as if he was a superior.

Two years in to Bush’s second term the Democrats took control of both the Senate and the House of Representatives. I began to see President Bush in a different light as spending by congress was spiraling out of control and he wasn’t using his stature as President to curtail it. It was as if he was avoiding making the big decisions that needed to be made. A complete reversal of what I had believed made him a great President in the first place. I soon lost all faith in what he could accomplish. My great feelings of pride in actively supporting this man was tainted in a very small way.

In 2008 all I can say is…What the hell was the Republican party thinking? John McCain? It was as if, just like in the the Dole nomination, they were doing it out of respect for him…and not what was best for the Nation! The only saving grace in that campaign was the introduction of Sarah Palin as his running mate! When he stood at the rally and announced her as his nominee for Vice President…he got my vote. Not for him, but for the person he had on his ticket. The nation needed to go more conservative on spending and I hoped she was the balance the nation needed.

The financial crisis happened before the election and Congress, including the two people running for President, voted against the will of the people, to bail out the mismanaged companies and banks that had taken us to the edge of disaster! Me, and other’s like me, would never see Washington the same way again!

It was at this moment I realized the Republican party was not my party. The Democrats were not even close to what I believed as a person. I ended up voting for McCain-Palin because I could not vote for Obama-Biden…they were too left, too radical! Obama’s past associations would raise their head shortly after the election. That’s part of another discussion I’ll have later in my writings.

That leads me to where I am today! I have renounced my Republican Party, and headed Independent. A streak of Libertarian running in my veins. I will now only vote for the person I feel best represents me and the nation…regardless of party! And I will be active in getting rid of those in Washington that have taken our children’s future and mortgaged this country to a possible end.

Watch out Washington elite! There are millions like me that have finally had enough! We’re tired of you telling us what is best for us! We’re tired of you controlling our lives and spending our hard earned tax dollars with wild abandon!

My fellow American’s are voting you out of office!

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