Liberty Maven

Reason Magazine asked several writers, associates, comedians, and people associated with the magazine in various ways five questions about the upcoming election. Drew Carey dodged the first question a bit which was,  “Who Are You Voting For In November?”.

The other questions are semi-serious, including the gem, “Leaving George W. Bush out of consideration, what former U.S. president would you most like to have waterboarded?”

I was pleased to see that Woodrow Wilson and Teddy Roosevelt received their share of votes for the waterboarding question. I was quite disappointed in the many people choosing to vote for Obama. Well, it seems most are voting more against McCain than for Obama. Bob Barr received a few votes and even McCain got a few.

Here is Drew Carey’s response:

1. Who are you voting for in November? Anybody but McCain/Palin. Seriously. I’m begging you.

2. Who did you vote for in 2004 and 2000? I voted for the Libertarian candidate both times just to be puckish.

3. Is this the most important election in your lifetime? No. I believe the answers to all the problems we face as a society won’t come from Washington, it will come from us. So the way we decide to live our lives and our decisions about what we buy or don’t buy are much more important than who we vote for.

4. What will you miss about the Bush administration?

5. Leaving George W. Bush out of consideration, what former U.S. president would you most like to have waterboarded? None of them. The sooner we stop coming up with lists of people to waterboard, the better.

One of my favorite responses comes from Charles Oliver:

1. Who are you voting for in November? I won’t be voting for president. If I did, it would be for Bob Barr because, as imperfect as his candidacy is, he’s the only one who is at least talking about a noninterventionist foreign policy, rethinking the war on drugs, and shrinking the size of the federal government.

2. Who did you vote for in 2004 and 2000? To the best of my memory, the last presidential candidate I voted for was Ron Paul in 1988. I’d like to say I have some grand philosophical reason for not voting, but the reality is that no candidate since then has excited me enough to get out and vote.

3. Is this the most important election in your lifetime? No, because, while John McCain and Barack Obama may differ on some particulars, they share the same fundamental view of government. Whichever one wins, there will be an expansion in the size and scope of the federal government, especially if, as is likely, the Democrats increase their majorities in Congress.

4. What will you miss about the Bush administration? I’ll miss most all of those posts on National Review’s The Corner that gushed over Bush (and Dick Cheney) like the diary entries of a school girl confessing her love for the Jonas Brothers.

5. Leaving George W. Bush out of consideration, what former U.S. president would you most like to have waterboarded? I guess I’d waterboard Woodrow Wilson because, among many other reasons, he led the United States into World War I and presided over the creation of the Federal Reserve. I’d say the world has been suffering from those decisions almost a century now.

Read the other numerous and mostly interesting responses here.