The makeup of our government makes change next to impossible. In the 112th Congress, Senate Democrats have killed the proposals made by Senate Republicans. Conversely, House Republicans have killed ideas put forth by House Democrats. This results in what many Americans (including some lawmakers) refer to as “the least productive Congress ever.” With a 10 percent favorability grade, Congress has taken an early adjournment which shows us all precisely where our representative’s hearts and minds are — solely on keeping their own jobs.
By re-electing President Obama or electing Mitt Romney and a Congress pretty evenly split between Democrats and Republicans, we are guaranteeing four more years of mutual obstruction and legislative gridlock. We presently have a national debt in excess of $16 trillion and after four more years of impasse it will likely be $20 trillion. With costs exploding we may actually go over that “fiscal cliff” we’re frequently reminded of.
Neither President Obama or Mitt Romney have the means, the will, or the intent to change the direction our country is going, but we do. We have the option of voting for a candidate not behold to special interests or the whims of the radical fringes of either major party. You and I do not have to waste our vote on the lesser of the two evils, hoping against hope that things will get better for average working Americans and not just the few who are rich.
This year I’m going to cast my vote against the status quo and for real change and a better future for our posterity. I’m voting for the only person I believe can coerce this or any Congress to do what lawmakers are elected to do: make compromises in order to govern well. My vote is going to Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson.
David L. Snell
Dillsboro
The folks in the mountains of Western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee share more than a common boundary, they share a deep appreciation for the wild, sometimes rugged, but always beautiful landscape they call home. 
