“Someday I’ll wish upon a star
And wake up where the clouds are far
Behind me.
Where troubles melt like lemon drops
Away above the chimney tops
That’s where you’ll find me.”

– “Over The Rainbow” by Harold Arlen

You may not live in the “Merry Old Land of Oz,” but politicians make their livings by pretending to be the Wizard. Their sales pitch is that, whatever your problems may be, they’re the only ones who can solve them, and all through the magic of “Big Government.” And you don’t even have to throw a bucket of water over the Wicked Witch of the West for them to deliver. All they want is your vote!

It’s the oldest game in town. It was already going on back in 1900, when L. Frank Baum first published “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.” Because what they deliver, really, isn’t magic. It’s regulation.

About the time that Americans were first meeting Dorothy Gale, there were reports of Americans dying from drinking tainted milk. Luckily, the “Wizards” were there to bring on stage the sickly mother who had had a dose of that foul milk, pleading, “Please! Please let us help! Let us take care of you, tell you what you may, or may not, drink! We don’t ask for very much! Just your vote!” Well, your vote and your tax dollars. It costs money to maintain the Emerald City, after all.

Fast forward more than 100 years, and it is still illegal in some parts of the country to buy raw milk; you know, the stuff the government hasn’t meddled with and corrupted. It is now illegal to make your own decisions, based on your research and your own findings, on what you put into your own body. There is no choice. The “Wizards” are in control. They now have the power over this.

And this is, of course, only one example. The Wizards loved the result of their problem-solving approach so much that it has become their bedrock promise – vote for me so I can make “x” problem go away. It seemed like a good deal at the time, but what we poor, humble “Kansans” were giving away wasn’t just our taxes or our votes. We were surrendering to government the Liberty of the People for powerful big government.

Lately, the hucksters have stepped their game up. If they can’t find a real problem to work their magic on, they’ll make one up. They’ll promote fear of those “American-hating Muslims,” and then offer you their magic charms to protect you from them. But most of all, they’ll offer to save you from the trouble coming at you from “the other side of the aisle.” This sales tactic is brilliant, since they can still crusade together to solve all the typical problems we have but supposedly can’t handle without them, but now, each legacy party can prey on the fear of what the other legacy party is going to do to you if you don’t vote for them.

This is a “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” fantasy.

But the thing to remember is this: like the Wizard that Dorothy encountered, these wizard politicians are essentially humbugs. There’s not much they can do for you – there’s not much they can do to you – so long as we Kansans don’t allow them the power to do it. At the end of the day, the ultimate power still rests with us, the people.

“So, how do I keep my Liberty, my freedom, to control my fate?”

You must vote only for the singular political party that NEVER wants to shift the power from you to the government. You must vote for the party that believes in your ability to be your own wizard, solve your own problems, make your own decisions. The Libertarian Party is the only political party that always defaults to having you keep your Liberty. Register Libertarian, and Vote Libertarian, in every election, big and small. Tell those Big Government wizards what they can do with their “magic.”

by Michael Smith – Secretary of the Libertarian Party of Broward County (pictured left)

and John Fockler – Vice Chair of the Central Committee and Director of Communications, Libertarian Party of Ohio (pictured right)