Like many Americans, I have been severely disappointed by the presidency of Barack Obama. Most people will not say it, but the truth is, Obama lied. He claimed to run a grassroots campaign on the platform of change. He claimed he would get rid of the monetary influence in Washington and put people in place who would change American government for the betterment of the people. As soon as he got into office, it was clear he did not mean it. He kept many of the same people around who caused many of our problems, and took advice from others who had much more to gain from maintaining the status quo than making change for the good of all Americans.

We do need change in American government. We need to elect someone who will stand up for the rights of the people and will not bow down to the influence of special interests. We need a president with integrity who will fight for what he or she believes in.

We already know that Obama will be one half of our options for president this year. We live in a two-party system than ensures we have no other choices than that. Since we already know what another four years of Barack Obama means, we need to take a closer look at the other side.

First, I am neither a Democrat nor a Republican, so I do not vote in primaries, as I refuse to align myself with either party. It is unfortunate that we do not have any other options, but we must play the cards that we are dealt. That leads us to the Republican presidential nominee in 2012.

While it seems as if the Republican candidates have been battling it out for some time now, the real battle is just beginning. Over the next few months, we will weed out the wannabes from the real contenders. Right now, Mitt Romney is the slight frontrunner, with Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich and a few others right behind him. While all of them claim to value true American ideals and believe they can get America back on track, I do not believe a word of it. They are all career politicians who have a much greater stake in preserving the corrupt system as it is than making America better for the average citizen.

I do believe that we would see real change if Ron Paul was elected, but I do not think he has a legitimate shot. A few of his stances are just too extreme for the American public to ever support him enough to be elected president. Even the Republican Party is smart enough not to nominate a candidate who has no chance of winning.

All of this makes it seem as if there is no hope for those of us Americans in the middle, but there is one Republican candidate who has gotten very little attention, although he deserves much more. His name is Buddy Roemer. Many people have not heard of him since he is not allowed in the Republican debates and most of the news shows will not mention his name. This is because he is running a campaign without the special interest money. He is raising funds in small amounts from average Americans. He is running on a platform of real change that would actually benefit America and all of its citizens.

Campaign finance reform is probably the single biggest issue we face as a country. We can no longer allow special interests to influence our elected officials as they currently do. We must first take the money out of political decision-making before we can ever realistically expect to the see the changes that we so desperately need.

With the second anniversary of the disastrous Citizens United decision by the Supreme Court, now is the time we need to stand up and take back what America really stands for. For those unaware, the Citizens United ruling said that corporations have the same rights as the American people and it basically paved the way for special interests to buy elections. It was possibly the biggest overreach of all time by the Supreme Court and it basically smacks the US Constitution in the face. Right now, more than ever, we need a president who will stand up to the big money and fight for the principles that this great country was founded on.

I honestly have no idea who I will vote for this year, but I do know that we need more candidates like Buddy Roemer. People who will stand up for what they believe in and fight for the rights of the average American. We can no longer sit idly by and allow the corrupt status quo to drive this country further into the ground.

Tags: Barack Obama, Matt Opperman, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Pursuit of Truth, Rick Santorum, Ron Paul

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 12th, 2012 at 1:44 pm and is filed under Opinion, Pursuit of Truth.
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