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6.10.13 13:20 
30 DAYS UNTIL ELECTION DAY - MAYORAL CANDIDATE #20: TROY BENJEGERDES (LOCAL ENERGY/FOOD)

"It is not just good business to vote for an alternative candidate, it is a moral imperative to evict the religion of the money changers from the mayor’s office."

Benjegerdes (38, East Phillips, filed 8/9) has a very optimistic domain name for his blog (mayortroy.com) where he doesn't update as much as I'd like and as on point as I like, but the quote above really resonates with me, so I'm sharing it with you.

We're actually pretty close politically - Troy is another Ron Paul caucus'er who couldn't stomach the thought of sticking with the Republicans after the deplorable treatment they received from the "small tent" national leadership. His personal facebook lists a political view of "Libertarian Socialist" - so maybe he goes a little further than I do. After giving up on the GOP in the 2012 cycle, he started an Indiegogo campaign to raise funds to lobby the Libertarian and Green parties in the 2012 election with... soybean oil. He raised $120, falling just short of his $55,000 goal.

He'd also like to see all the streetlights in Minneapolis powered by the wind. No matter WHO the next mayor is...they should try to take him up on that. Hell, it's not too late for Rybak to take him up on it!

Also like me, he seems to have a presence on every social network on the Internet (except, oddly enough, Twitter). His YouTube channel isn't mayor-related at all; it's more revolved around what appears to be his real day job as a farmer...as does his three word party or principle, Local Energy/Food. Get this - he wasn't allowed to use the word "Farmer" as the DFL apparently has rights on the word. (Strange that Elections let me get away with saying "Libertarian" without "Party," when you think about it, but there's a lot about the DFL and Elections that I find strange.) He's a proud advocate of locally sourced crops for food AND for energy. The farm he lists on Facebook is in the wonderfully named town of Manly, Iowa (about 123 miles away).

Curiously, he seems to be actively campaigning for everyone's #3 ranking. Since I'd prefer your #1 ranking, I guess it would be possible to make both of us happy on Election Day. ;-)

Finally, he accepts donations in Bitcoin. That's pretty cool...even if it doesn't seem to completely coexist with his thoughts about money in the system. (Although I should probably say MY thoughts about money in the system - he never actually comes out against all funding so I may be projecting here.)

I honestly can't tell you if I'd be a better mayor than this guy or not, but I think either of us as mayor would be very interesting! Am I right or wrong? It's YOUR vote!

NEXT: My Libertarian nemesis
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