To:   The Editor                     10/1/2008

Victor Stabile and the Republican Party’s repeated attempts to destroy the democratic process in Pennsylvania are on full display with their lawsuits to remove the Libertarian Presidential Candidate Bob Barr from the ballot.  When their usual tactics of requiring a small mountain of signatures (25,000 this year) didn’t work to keep Bob Barr off the ballot they had to plot a new scheme.  The Republican leadership know full well that libertarian oriented Ron Paul garnered 16% of the vote in the Pennsylvania primary even after Ron Paul suspended his campaign.  This sent a strong signal that a significant number of people are willing to take a stand for freedom, liberty and small government and are tired of the government taking more and more control.  Pennsylvania is a key battleground state and the power mongers that do the dirty work for the Republican Party have been assigned the task of eliminating one of the strongest Libertarian Party candidates to date in Bob Barr.  Bob Barr is an ex- U.S. Congressman from Georgia with an ex- Ross Perot veteran by the name of Russ Verney as his campaign manager.  I’m thankful for the State Election Board and Judge Butler’s decision that Stabile’s claims are baseless and that Cumberland County took action to support democratic choice by printing the ballots.  This whole episode reminds me of the scene from the movie Gladiator where the Roman Emperor Commodus stabs Maximus with a hidden knife under his armor before entering the arena for the “appearance” of a fair fight.  The shear audacity of the Republican Party’s leadership to try and manipulate the ballot by eliminating choice is entirely un-American and will ultimately alienate even more of their conservative base.