My fellow Americans, there are those of us about whom it could be said, “He needs no introduction.” I am not one of those people. I really do need an introduction and I need and ask for your kind indulgence as I introduce myself to you as an Independent Write-in-Candidate for President of the United States in 2008.
My name is Drew Kopf. Not an easy name for a candidate for any office to be sure, but as I try to put my ideas before you for your consideration, allow me to first put things into perspective. Today is September20, 2007. There are Only 410 Days Until Election Day -- November 4, 2008 and, as I prepare this message, about 25 other candidates for President are running around the country criticizing each other, the government, the Vice President and the President and claiming to have and to be the answer to all of our prayers for our country.
All of these other candidates have something in common: Every one of them is a member of one or the other of the major political parties – the Republican Party or the Democratic Party. Their campaign rhetoric differs from everything that I am about to share with you in that they, each one of them, are really addressing a small segment of our citizenry. There are only _______ million members of the two major political parties combined. Most of these members are not really very active in their party. Many of them fail to even vote. Of all the members of the two major parties who could have voted in the 2004 election, only ______ million actually cast their votes. A full ______ did not vote. And that was the number who did not vote in the General Election. In the primary, where each party supposedly chooses their party’s candidate, only ______ of Republican Party members even cast their votes. That translates to ___%. And for the Democrats, it was even fewer. Only ___% of registered Democrats voted in their party’s primary election.
So, all the campaign promises and rhetoric spoken by the current crop of major party hopefuls are really being directed to a mere___% of our nation, that is of all those who are eligible to register to vote, only ___% will be selecting the two major party candidates and it is virtually guaranteed that one of them will be the next President. At worst, it’s just a 50-50 chance for who ever gets nominated by these two big parties.
I ask you, if you are not a member of either the Republican or Democratic Party, does that seem fair? But, that is the way it is and the way it has been since the advent of the political parties in or nation.
To add to this unfairness, newspapers, radio and TV stations cover the major party candidates to the total exclusion of all others thus giving the major candidates a vast amount of free publicity and planting in the minds of our citizenry that the major party candidates are the only viable or true candidates.
Well, I am here to tell you that that is not the reality any more and I believe it is in your interest and in the interest of our Nation to realize where we are in history and why the campaign for the Presidency started so much earlier than it ever had before and why those all-powerful political parties are beginning to show signs of weakness. Slipping is what they are doing. They are slipping in their actual power and in their ability to help our country select its leadership. And, from there, I believe they will continue to slip in to the ash can of history.
They may have served their purpose in a crude and unattractive kind of way, but they are on their way out even as they are trying desperately to reinvent themselves. The newspapers, radio and TV stations are similarly loosing their position as the be-all and end-all in the candidate endorsement game. Millions of American voters are talking to each other as never before; more openly more broadly and more directly all through the vast improvements in our communication channels. Not the least of which is the Internet and it’s now still open and almost free to all of us e-mail capabilities.
It is my request that you take a moment and please consider the real power you now wield with your one and only vote. I ask that your put aside, at least in your mind for a moment, the overwhelming power of the major political parties, while you consider the of casting of that one and only vote of yours for a political unknown, who is as outside the system as can be, but who offers you a chance to truly clean up our National House; not just the White House, but the Halls of Congress and the mess that has been made in so many of our court houses including in our Supreme Court House.
It has never been done before. But, both parties know it can be done. That is why they are running early and running scared. That is why they are spending and estimated ___ billion dollars to keep control of our government; and I mean our government at every level. And that ___ billion dollars are just for the office of President. That massive figure does not even take into account the races for ___ Senatorial seats and ___ Congressional seats being contested in 2008. When all is said and done, these political power brokers will have spent estimated ___ billion dollars all to keep you and me right where they want us; being good little voters with only them and their parties for whom to vote. |
