If insanity can be defined as performing the same act repeatedly while expecting different results, then both Democrats and Republicans should be due for a little time on the couch.

And it's happening again this election year, with both parties making grandiose promises that no rational person can believe they'll keep.

Both parties will continue to fund corporate welfare programs while cutting the necessities for our most vulnerable citizens.

Meanwhile syndicated columnist Thomas Friedman calls for a new third party (“From the divide a third party rises”) causing one to wonder where he's been for the past 40 years.

The Libertarian Party is represented in all 50 states, running hundreds of candidates for political office, including those of the president and U.S. Congress. In California there are Libertarian candidates for every major office.

The Libertarian Party platform is simplicity itself: 1. Reduce the size and scope of government; 2. End foreign adventurism; 3. Eliminate government efforts to halt or modify human behavior; 4. Return our economy to a free market system; and 5. Base our laws on Constitutional principles.

For those who argue a third-party vote is a wasted vote, how has that vote for a major party worked out for you lately? Maybe it's truly time for a change.

Connel Murray lives in Kelseyville, Calif.