Andy Gonzales’s letter to the daily on Oct. 5 caught my eye, pretty much because it was the first letter on page five that day.

While it did make me roll my eyes a bit, I was happy to see that at least it provided a backbone for the other two letters on the page.

In his letter, Mr. Gonzales asked why there were so few letter supporting Bush in the Daily’s letters pages. Here’s your answer: because he’s a BUFFOON!

He also gave us lots of good reasons to not vote for Gore. Not a whole lot there as to why we should vote for Bush, of course, just why we shouldn’t waste our votes on good, old Al.

Fortunately the other two letters that day made me realize I’m not the only one who doesn’t fall into the idiotic pretense that Bush and Gore are the only two options out there.

Let’s face it. Now more than ever, people are looking for options. Both the Republicans and the Democrats have two things going against them.

First, they’re both starting to sound the same, a problem in a supposed “two-party system” (which is a load of crap to begin with).

Secondly, they haven’t made any significant changes in the way our government runs.

Everyone I talk to says they’d really like to vote third party, be it for Ralph Nader or Libertarian Harry Browne to Reform Party candidate John Hagelin.

No one who isn’t legally insane that I talked to even mentioned Pat Buchanan, which still gives me hope for the future.

Yet, when election day comes, usually two things happen: They went ahead and voted for one of the two “major” candidates or they didn’t vote at all.

Don’t let some fool with sheep mentality tell you voting for someone who doesn’t have much of a chance to win is “throwing away your vote.”

It’s the farthest thing from the truth. Your vote is more than just your pick for who should be president. It’s a message to the government saying “this is who represents me.”

If enough people buck the status quo, the message will get through: this federal government needs to make some SEVERE changes and now.

MY dad used to tell me that he wished there was a “None of the Above” option when he went to the polls. If enough people voted for that option, we’d have to do it all over again. Until that happens, consider your other options. Check out the various independent parties and find someone who REALLY represents your ideals.

Don’t be a sheep.

Kevin Sullivan

Resident

Ames