This article was printed from KeepAndBearArms.com.
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http://www.KeepAndBearArms.com.
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Aaron Russo for the
Libertarian Nomination -- and for President by Angel Shamaya May 6, 2004 In this election year, America faces a number
of important issues. Voters have another opportunity to choose the candidates
they trust to protect their rights and steer our nation back in the direction of
what it was designed to be: a Constitutional Republic. Personally, for many years, the primary
criterion on which I evaluate a candidate is, "Where does he/she stand on
the Second Amendment? To what extent does she/he respect and support the right
of the people to keep and bear arms? And from available evidence, how does he or
she define the last four words in the Second Amendment: 'shall not be
infringed'?" My reason for measuring candidates based on
these questions is elementary. A politician who doesn't trust an armed populace
is a politician who doesn't trust the people he or she claims to want to
represent. Such mistrust suggests a character of superiority -- that he or she
knows what is best for you, and that government ought to mandate your
defenselessness for your own good. Such mistrust, in my view, makes a politician
untrustworthy with our gun rights, and with all of our rights. Politicians
provided the authority to direct the course of a great and free nation ought to
trust The People. It's that simple. Going after people who criminally misuse
firearms to violate the rights of others is a very good idea, and I am all for
it. Going after lawful, peaceable people's gun collections or for how they
choose to keep and bear arms, on the other hand, is the mark of a tyrant.
Period. Our Right to Keep and Bear Arms has been
betrayed at every turn by politicians of both "major" parties.
Democrats have, for the most part, overtly endorsed and actively worked to pass
"gun control" legislation -- which is really "victim
disarmament" legislation. There's no question that a Democratic
administration and a Democratic Congress would continue their assaults on our
Second Amendment rights. Meanwhile, while Republicans have claimed to
support our rights, they, as a party, have instead compromised at every turn.
The Brady Bill, the semi-automatic rifle and magazine ban -- every major piece
of "gun control legislation" passed in the last 50 years -- would have
rightly gone down to defeat had Republican politicians stood firm in opposition. In confirmation hearings before the US Senate,
Attorney General John Ashcroft claimed to support the Second Amendment -- while
advocating renewal of the semi-auto rifle and magazine ban mischievously named
the "Assault Weapons Ban." President Bush also publicly advocates
extending the Ban -- even though it has had no effect on crime, and even though
he allegedly supports the Second Amendment. And Mr. Bush has dropped the Gun
Rights ball in many other ways, which I outlined in a letter to his campaign
manager in March: http://KeepAndBearArms.com/information/Item.asp?ID=3660
In 2000, I endorsed George W. Bush's candidacy.
I did so after wrestling with the question of whether he could be trusted to
press the claims of gun owners to the full expression of their Right to Keep and
Bear Arms. This year, I will cast my presidential vote for
a better qualified candidate. As I cannot, in good conscience, endorse either
Bush or any of the Democratic presidential hopefuls; it is time to take a close
look at third party and independent candidates. Of the field of candidates who
have declared their intention to run for President, there is one who already
stands apart from the crowd. I am endorsing, with full confidence that he
can be trusted to stand up for the rights of law-abiding gun owners, Aaron Russo
to receive the presidential nomination of the Libertarian Party at its national
convention later this month. Of the small pool of LP candidates who have a
chance at getting the nomination, Aaron Russo has the best chance of doing the
most good for the Libertarian Party and for gun rights as a result. Over the years, Aaron Russo has been a defender
of the Second Amendment. He's stood against infringement of our Right to Keep
and Bear Arms by government any level, without exception and without compromise
-- and he's done so as a Hollywood insider, where hating firearms ownership for
the peasantry is all the rage. Additionally, Russo brings to the 2004
presidential campaign a background in film production and marketing -- six Oscar
nominations prove his acumen -- that lends itself well to actually getting the
facts in front of the American people and offering them a real choice. His
campaign is reaching out to Americans on a greater scale than any previous
Libertarian Party effort, and offers gun owners a chance to actually play a key
role in the election's outcome. I encourage you to review his website, read his
communications, watch his online video statements, review his television
commercials and to support him. http://www.RussoForPresident.com/
Can a third party candidate win the presidency?
Currently, it's a long shot. So was Founding our nation, and I am glad those who
chose to lead the effort made the choices they made, however unpopular they may
have been. In my opinion and in the opinion of more people each year, it is
time, and past time, for gun owners to: a) stop rewarding politicians who take
our support for granted and then sacrifice our rights on the altar of political
expedience; and thus b) start supporting candidates who truly stand for the Bill
of Rights. Each of the two "major party" presidential candidates is a
police statist to some degree. Aaron Russo is a Bill of Rights-ist. My choice is
easy. |
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