Open Call: Pitch Reels

The Pitch:

My name is Galen Carter-Jeffrey and I have never voted for a republican in my entire short voting life. That is until March 5th 2008. You might be thinking to yourself, "You are a democrat and you chose this election to vote republican? We have had 8 years of miserable leadership, why choose this year?" Well, I am proud to say that I finally figured that I am libertarian and I voted for Ron Paul.

On Election Day, I went over to the local school to vote. There were two lines. One line for republicans and one was for Democrats. I live in a very liberal part of town and needless to say, The democrats line was at least 20 people and there was absolutely no one in the republican line. I asked the clerk how many people have voted today. She said that over a thousand had, but only about 15 republicans. It also didn’t help that all the people in the democrats line gave me a very evil stare. That's ok, because I was actually voting for a candidate that DID vote against the war and DID vote against the patriot act.

That night I went back to caucus. Texas holds both a primary and a caucus. When I got to the school. There was a huge mob of people trying to get in. I thought to myself, “Wow this is great everyone is so willing to participate in the very process that makes our country so great!” I got a little emotional, (I always choke up a little bit when I vote, because I feel so grateful to be able to). Anyway, I figured all these fine people were waiting for the Democrats caucus to end since theirs was scheduled first. I waited behind the crowd for a little bit before hearing an announcement that the republican caucus will begin shortly and that any republicans needed to follow the precinct leader into the school. Well, nobody moved. It was then that I realized that these guys weren’t waiting for the republican caucus. They were democrats. And the worst part was that I had to walk through the crowd, with them knowing I was a member of the “other” party. I wanted to scream “It’s ok I’m voting for Ron Paul.” But it would have been useless.

When I met up with the precinct leader he told us that our caucus would take place in the hallway next to the democrats caucus. A total of 11 republicans showed up. Just to show the contrast about 400 democrats were in the other room. We quietly held our caucus in which Ron Paul won all the precinct delegates. The two non-Ron Paul supporters were very surprised. And It felt so good to introduce and pass a resolution to end the Iraq war in the Republican primary.

I don't need to say that Ron Paul didn't win Texas. But I am proud to have casted a vote for someone I truly believed in.