“The most successful politicians recognize the state of the nation and play to it. You want a nanny? The politician will be your nanny. You want a daddy? The politician will be your daddy. You want a big brother? The politician will be only too happy to be Big Brother.
America—you don’t need or want any of those things. Instead, you need to get off your fat, pampered butts and take care of yourselves. You need to reject government “help” altogether. Stop turning from tweedle-dee to tweedle-dum and expect anything to change. No presidential candidate is going to save you.
Govern yourself.”

This quote from Joseph Farah’s None of the Above, Why 2008 is the Year to Cast the Ultimate Protest Vote, sums up my own feelings about the direction of our government and the upcoming election. Like many, I’ve been unhappy with the choices offered to us voters in the past. I’ve done the “plug my nose and vote for the lesser of two evils” ballot. In the primary here in California this spring, the field was pretty limited by the time the elections arrived. My original choice was, of course, long gone. For the first time, in over 30 years of voting, I found myself with nobody to support in the primary. However, I had such an aversion to the frontrunner I found myself voting for a candidate I actively disliked, disapproved of and would have never voted for in the general election. I regretted it as soon as I finished casting the ballot. I’ve always, and I mean always, taken voting very seriously; read up on the candidates, and supported who I felt the best person for the job would be. I promised myself that I’d never vote for someone again, unless I believed they were the best we had to offer.

Farah’s book caught my eye with the title; since that’s just the way I’ve been feeling about the upcoming election. The book addresses the authors’ belief that now is the time for radical and revolutionary thinking. That when we chose “the lesser of two evils”, this means that we are still participating in something “evil”. Farah reminds us that we won’t get the Constitutional government our founding fathers fought for, if we don’t demand it. The Constitution of our country is an amazing document, but we’ve allowed all three branches of government to gut it and render it irrelevant. Patrick Henry said, “The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government - lest it come to dominate our lives and interests.” This document was to limit the power that government had over our lives, not allow it to be our nanny. We were to be self-governing, and yet we’ve allowed ourselves to be convinced that all our dreams can come true if we put our faith in our leaders. As Farah says, “dependency of government is the opposite of freedom and responsibility. In the long term, it means tyranny and slavery.”

None of the Above makes compelling arguments, which any American can readily understand. The authors love of this country and the freedoms enumerated in the Constitution are obviously of the utmost importance to him. Farah also is a Christian, and his faith is an integral part of his thesis. He uses Biblical reference throughout and refers often to his own beliefs. This type of theologically driven ideology may detract from his thesis in the minds of some readers. It might be easier for a reader who has a different or no religious background to discount the book as a whole, instead of realizing that the ideas contained within the book are relevant to all Americans, religious or not. I don’t necessarily agree with all of Farah’s idea, I find I have a more of a Libertarian perspective on many social issues. However when it comes to protecting the Constitution, I’m with him 100%. We have to stop taking it for granted.
Joseph Farah’s book reminds us that, “The strength of the Constitution lies entirely in the determination of each citizen to defend it. Only if every single citizen feels duty bound to do his share in this defense are the constitutional rights secure.” (Albert Einstein) ( )