Francis Folz | United States

Pennsylvania has a woeful history of nominating less than deserving candidates to run for its senior US Senate seat. In 2006, the GOP once again nominated the socially conservative neocon Rick Santorum to run for a third term, which Pennsylvanians decisively denied him by a 17.3 percent margin loss to incumbent Bob Casey Jr, his Democrat opponent.

In 2012, Tom Smith successfully won the Republican primary, despite being a Democrat for 42 years and raising taxes on his community nearly 10 times, according to some sources. Pennsylvanians rejected Smith’s candidacy by 9.1 percent that November, as he lost to Democrat Bob Casey Jr. Comparatively, Mitt Romney finished behind Obama by only 5.4 percent in the Keystone Commonwealth.

And in 2018, it appears the Republican Party is going to hand Bob Casey Jr. yet another term because, apparently, the best Republicans can offer is Lou Barletta. Despite 41 percent of Pennsylvanians approving of Bob Casey’s work and only a dismal 30 percent believing Bob deserves a third term, Senator Casey maintains double-digit leads over Lou Barletta in every poll.

In fact, RealClearPolitics’ average for the race indicates Mr. Casey would crush Mr. Barletta by a 16 percent landslide. The entire Swamp, from Mike Kelly to the Pennsylvania GOP, even President Trump, has endorsed Lou, despite Pennsylvania’s objection.

FreedomWorks and Conservative Review are two right-leaning, liberty-oriented websites that provide scorecards for every federal politician. Both websites are nonpartisan and analyze key votes our legislators partake in and compare the results to how they align with American ideals such as our Constitution, liberty, privacy, and free enterprise.

Lou Barletta currently has a 59% score with FreedomWorks in 2018 (his lifetime score is an appalling 51%). If you ask Conservative Review, he fairs even worse with a 43% F. To put those numbers in perspective, Bob Casey Jr.’s 2018 FreedomWorks score is 9% (he has a 4% lifetime score) and a 6% F from Conservative Review.

There are innumerable examples of Bob and Lou align against Pennsylvania’s common good. Both men voted for the $1.3 trillion omnibus (money you, me, and our grandchildren don’t have.)

Both legislators voted to trample our 4th Amendment right to privacy by reauthorizing the bulk collection of every single phone call, email, text message, and social media post you have ever generated known as FISA 702. 9/11 was almost two decades ago, and every al-Qaeda member that took part in the heart-breaking, despicable tragedy is dead, so I don’t know how either candidate can justify continuing to spy on innocent Americans.

In addition, both politicians voted to reinstate wasteful, taxpayer-funded earmarks (remember the bridge to nowhere? Yeah, that’s an example of an earmark). Lou voted against the USA RIGHTS Act which would have strengthened every Americans’ constitutional and human 4th Amendment right to privacy.

Earlier this year, Bob Casey voted in step with the establishment, voting against the Federal Reserve Transparency Act. The Swamp loathed that bill because it would have forced the Fed to come clean on its role in the Great Recession, what it spends trillions of dollars on, and what actions it has taken to lead us towards another great recession. One would think the GOP and DNC wouldn’t support such subpar quality candidates, but sadly, that is not the case.

“We need… no pale pastels, but bold colors” – Ronald Reagan

It is for these reasons that commonsense Pennsylvanians must ditch the two parties and vote for the real anti-establishment, anti-swamp candidate Dale Kerns. Mr. Kerns is a robust advocate for liberty and privacy, the only candidate in the race who can boast that. After all, his motto is “Nobody can run your life better than YOU!” That alone should convince commonsense Pennsylvania’s to abandon the two establishment candidates who repeatedly vote to control our lives and take away our state’s sovereignty.

If you go to Mr. Kerns’ website and read through the issues he highlights, it’s pretty clear Pennsylvania should elect such a principled man. For example, Bob Casey and Lou Barletta have done nothing to stop our federal prison population from exploding to 800% its size from 40 years ago, which has a profound impact on all people, especially those of color. Mr. Kerns approaches drug abuse as the disease it is by sponsoring treatment instead of imprisonment over a victimless crime.

When it comes to the economy and jobs, Mr. Kerns wants to eliminate the tyrannical IRS and revise our tax code even further so it is as simple as a postcard. Also, he confronts the Federal Reserve, something neither Bob Casey nor Lou Barletta would ever do, and its role in devaluing our currency 96% since 1913. There are plenty more positions on Mr. Kerns’ website which make it abundantly clear why he is the only candidate in 2018 deserving of Pennsylvanian’s support.

Mr. Kerns caught many Twitter users by surprise October 1st by proposing to amend the constitution to abolish eminent domain, property taxes (you know, the rent you pay to live on Uncle Sam’s land), and legalized government theft known as civil asset forfeiture. It is also worthy to note he is the only candidate to propose shrinking the size of government by eliminating multiple unconstitutional agencies and departments.

But Third Parties…

But you may still be thinking, yes he may be the best candidate in the race, but he has no chance of winning. In 2016, nobody thought Trump was going to reach 270 electoral votes, let alone receive over 300 and be the first Presidential Republican candidate to carry Pennsylvania since 1988.

The idea that a third party candidate can’t win because the individual is running in a third party is the biggest con in the two-party system playbook. You see, the two-party duopoly is never going to admit if enough people vote their conscience, a third party candidate can and will win because they would lose their stranglehold on our election outcomes.

It is no wonder Gary Johnson was barred from the presidential debates in 2016, despite numerous polls showing the majority of Americans yearning for a third person on the stage. The D.C. establishments knew if a third person presented ideas Americans could rally behind, Gary Johnson could have been elected, endangering our archaic system.

The logic the Swamp employs to eliminate competition is that third-party candidates can’t win elections for no other reason than the individual is running under a third party banner. Thus, the majority of voters don’t believe a third party can win an election, which is why a plurality of people don’t vote for a third party candidate. If the majority of citizens believe this lie, it perpetuates itself until that is the only outcome in every election.

What about my affiliated party…

It’s in the DNC’s and GOP’s best interest that we don’t vote for their candidates. If Pennsylvanians continue their complacent support of poor, undeserving candidates, it only emboldens the two parties to continue subjecting us to shoddy choices.

According to all polls conducted thus far, Lou Barletta trails Casey by over 10 points or more. So theoretically, doesn’t Mr. Kerns have the same odds of winning as Mr. Barletta? I mean, statistically, right now both would stand to lose against Mr. Casey.

Conceptualize for a second that only 20% of Pennsylvanians decide enough is enough, and we are not going to lend our votes to substandard candidates. The results would look something like 46% Bob Casey, 34% Lou Barletta, & 20% Dale Kerns.

In future elections, both parties would be forced to nominate better candidates since it’d be evident Pennsylvanians of all strides will not tolerate poor-quality contenders. The GOP would be coerced to reconcile and nominate a candidate in 2024 that has the potential to win that other 20% of voters, and same with the DNC.

So in other words, voting for Dale Kerns is the only way to ensure that our two mainstream parties don’t continue to give us mediocre choices in future elections. And since 47% of Americans are willing to vote for a third party, if enough Pennsylvanians decide to swing for the fences and elect Dale, Mr. Kerns will win, forcing the other two parties to put up even better, more competitive candidates in the future.

The future of Pensylvania…

Now more than ever, Pennsylvanians must choose which means more to us. Is it our principles, future generations, and our country’s wellbeing or is it our mainstream, elitist political parties, the Swamp, and the “lesser of the two evils”?

Evil is always evil, no matter how lesser it may seem. We have given our consent to mediocrity over and over again to the point where Republicans might as well cross out Lou Barletta’s name and replace it with “Bob Casey Jr-lite”.

I believe my principles, the future of my children not yet born, and our magnificent country are worth more than falling in line behind the red or blue team. That is why I will be voting for Dale Kerns and why every Pennsylvanian must rally around him too, no matter the preconceived odds of him winning.

My biggest regret would be trying to explain to my grandchildren my political party meant more to me than my principles and their future, and in the end, my party did nothing for me and that is why their future is so bleak.

“One man with courage is a majority” – Thomas Jefferson

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