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Libertarian Student Will Vote, but Remains Frustrated

By Selina Guevara

ELON, NC - Democrats or Republicans? How about neither.

Thats how Elon sophomore Sven Byrnes feels about not only the upcoming election, but U.S. politics in
general.

As the president of the Young Americans for Liberty, Elons Libertarian club, Byrnes is a registered
Libertarian and will be voting for Gary Johnson in the November presidential election.

Growing up in his hometown of Smyrna, Tennessee, Byrnes was surrounded by a political environment
that was extremely red, and considered himself a staunch Republican in middle school. He did not
know Libertarianism was an option until a high school teacher introduced Libertarian views on the
Federal Reserve in personal finance class.

The Byrnes family has parents from two very different political backgrounds; Byrnes father is a strong
Republican and believes in less fiscal involvement in the government. His mother is from Norway, a
completely socialist society with free education and healthcare.

As an ecology major with plans to apply to med school, Byrnes considers himself very politically active,
but often gets frustrated with the current political climate in America.

Byrnes has accepted that Johnson most likely will not win the election. Yeah Im gonna vote, gotta go
out and support my man Gary, Byrnes claims, but feels as if the modern day political system is messed
up.

The last time a third party candidate won an election, in Byrnes eyes, was Abraham Lincoln. In the era
of the Whigs and the Democrats, Byrnes considers the Republicans a third party, who won only because
the dominant parties were divided. They changed the whole system so now there is only one person
from each party, and Byrnes claims that ruins the chances of a third party candidate winning.

As far as media coverage, Byrnes believes the corruption continues because all of the major networks
are controlled by biased liberals or staunch republicans, and do not give enough coverage of other
prospective candidates.

You cant believe everything you hear. The media turns us all against each other. Byrnes deems the
press overly-dramatic and bipartisan because they feed off of big controversy and unfairly report on
Clinton and Trump. But news network coverage isnt the only thing

What really pisses me off is that they wont let Gary Johnson debate. A potential candidate needs 15%
in the polls to make it in the official presidential debate. The problem with the polls is that in order to
vote for Johnson, you would have to write him in. The options are Democrat, Republican, or neither,
Byrnes explains. Its so unfair.

Out of the two mainstream candidates, Byrnes sees Trump as the lesser of two evils. Clinton is a liar
and will do anything for money. Byrnes agrees with some of Trumps fiscal policies, and stated that all
libertarians see taxation as theft. But both of them are terrible.
Although he has already admitted defeat in the national election, Byrnes encourages students to vote in
local elections, where your vote actually counts. Especially when it comes to third party candidates,
Byrnes believes small changes in local offices are the ones that really matter and effect students most
directly.

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