Colorado man wants your write-in vote as president

The Rev. John Boydston has a message of peace for Odessans: "I want the community to relax; I'm not a terrorist."

Forgive me if I have a little fun at the man's expense, but his message is the last one I expected to hear from a man wearing a clerical collar. Usually someone wearing that white square is talking about Jesus. Thus, I jest when it comes to the message Boydston asked me to get out.

It seems Boydston gets strange looks about town. I must admit his dress is not conventional for a priest.

First off, there's the silver Bell bicycle helmet. Then there's the traditional black coat and collar of a priest set off by knee highs and golf knickers.

He also wears a brace that looks like the breastplate of some science fiction soldier.

That brace is to help him recover from an accident with an 18-wheeler somewhere near the Montana-Wyoming state line when he was on his way to visit Little Big Horn. He knew of a similar accident here, so he came to Odessa to get treatment and legal advice.
If you're thinking his story is a bit on the fantastic side, you're right. And it gets even more intriguing.

Boydston is running for president - he can't bring himself to vote for Obama or McCain.

"This is the only way I know how to be conscientious about my own responsibility as a citizen," he said.

Boydston said he has a Federal Election Commission Identification Number as a write-in candidate. He's also working on contacting the 50 states to let them know he's a registered candidate.

Boydston, who said he majored in constitutional law in law school, knows a lot about history. If elected, he wants to restore the power of the presidency he says was given away by John Adams and usurped by Marbury v. Madison, the legal case that established judicial review in the United States.

The way Boydston sees it, the president needs the power of a king. "The president and the president alone should be the one to decide what the constitutional law is."

Listening to Boydston, who said he was ordained as an ecumenical Catholic priest in 1959, is fascinating. I heard about his time in the military and at the Pentagon doing "some things that you can't talk about."
His campaign agenda is unique:

>> Seal off U.S. borders. Period. For about a year.

>> In that year, conduct "a military operation of incognito nature" to "locate insurgents and terrorists" already here.

>> Restructure the presidential election process to ensure presidents are elected by the people and not by an electoral college.

>> Institute governmental control of all media so all candidates can get their messages out.

>> Cut the salary of all elected officials to $40,000 a year, including the president. That's plenty of money considering all the expense money office holders get. "If you don't have any more financial management than that you certainly don't need to be serving the American people," he said.

>> Mandate education and not allow anyone to "be involved in employment until they complete at least four years of university work."

>> Install martial law for the first year of his presidency.

>> Fight drug trafficking because it is "just swallowing a large portion of our young people."

Boydston also would resign from office after about a year. "During that year a number of things worthy of Old Glory would be accomplished," he said, including establishing a single global government that Old Glory has earned the right to fly over.

My favorite plank of his platform is to put NASA under military control to protect the program financially and to push the boundaries of space exploration.

In his words: "We need to get colonies on the moon and then get beyond the Milky Way galaxy to get out there where something really fantastic awaits."
Amen.