Mr. Nader announced today his running mate for president: former San Francisco Supervisor and 2003 SF Mayoral Green Party Candidate Matt Gonzalez. It makes me sort of sad that Gonzalez has hitched his wagon to the Lar "American First" Daly of our generation.

There are now people who are talking about how "refreshing" it is that Ralph has thrown his hat into the race, making the political process a little more "vibrant"

How it keeps us free.

I head to Mr. Nader's Campaign Website. His Opening page on http://www.votenader.org/ is dark. Menacing. It looks like possibly an opening page for Fear "7".

Dark, ominous clouds with lightning and in white caps, the words getting slowly larger:

Corporate greed
Corporate power

Corporate control

The first words on the top of the page is almost daring you. DARING you to feel guilty about something:

Which side are you on?

It's an endearing feel good front page. It makes me want to be free. Well, actually it makes me afraid that if I don't vote for Nader, that I will not be free.

This got me to thinking about the the third party system. The idea of having an open forum and different voices in the Presidential races.

I started thinking about Lar "America First" Daly. That guy who ran all through the late 50's all the way up to his death for every political position from Mayor of Chicago to President. Under both parties and his own "America First Party" The guy who used to campaign in an Uncle Sam outfit. The guy who wanted legal gambling and was against public schools. He badgered the FCC for equal air time.

Now we have Nader asking us where we stand.

Let me tell you Ralph where America stands in this day and age: You are the third party candidate for the snicks and giggles. This country has run on this premise for a long time: Republicans, Democrats and The Big Name Indy Guy for the super bitter disenfranchised 2 percent.

This is where "Average Joe" Schriner comes into play.

After looking at the "ooo booo scary" website of Mr. Nader..I did some hunting on "Who else" is trying to make America Free. The others that are running for president this year. The ones that don't have corvairs or appearances on Saturday Night Live in the 70's under their belts.

So, I headed to http://www.politics1.com/p2008.htm and looked through the many many people who have thrown their names in the ring. You realize when you look at this site there are hundreds of people running for president

...that none of us know about.

I picked the name that stood out the most to me. And that would be "Average Joe" Schriner There are millions of Average Joe's across this great land of ours, and this Average Joe decided to be part of the great "Political Process".

I go to his website then his blog to learn more about him.

First off his website is cheerful with nice bright colors. Granted it is a MESS, but I guess that is the appeal of being an Average Joe on the internet: A guy who does not have an back end designer.

He even has his own vote for Joe song acoustic guitar:

Average Joe is on the back road to the white house
He's on the back road to the white house.
Shouldya...Dontcha wanna vote for Joe?
Writing sun (?) have some fun...vote for Joe!

It then goes into a lot of word play from different cities all ending in vote for Joe. It's adorable! It's really cute as a button...the song is so...so...AVERAGE!

As for Average Joe's Average views, he is really REALLY about life. He is also not about long winded explanations on his site. He likes the tildes instead of the "bullets"

• No abortion.
• Many more local safety nets for moms & dads in crisis pregnancy.
• No death penalty, no euthenasia.
• No embryonic stem cell research and no cloning.
• Respect for God's sovereignty and natural order.
• More in hands of states & parents.
• More curriculum flexibility to match student needs.
• One-third of curriculum: community volunteer work.
• More classes on "race and culture" to promote better community building. ~ More classes about family life and relationship building.

He wants to go back to "The way it was" Some great things...some really messed up things. "Average Joe" is all over the boards on this. Liberal views on helping the community with pretty strict Christian views on life.

He is Average Joe. The kind of guy who probably voted for Reagan...then voted for Bill Clinton.

And he is probably the type of fellow who I would have a beer with.

Here is a picture of Average Joe Schriner on the campaign trail with his family. They look like really nice people. looking at this picture it was apparent that he also ran in 2004.

Does anyone remember Average Joe while Liberals were being horrified by Swift Boating and Republicans were shoring up base with Gay Marriage? Did anyone know of Average Joe while Kerry was water surfing and holding up riffles leaving people wondering where he stood?

Probably not. But Average Joe was there. In his Trailer Camper with his family stumping to make America Free. Maybe he does it every four years to give his family a really cool cross country trip. Maybe he really thinks he can make the world better with his message.

But he is out there quietly asking people to join him because this is "Where he stands"

Trying to make things in his world "Free"

I applaud Average Joe.

I'm still voting for Obama.