By Selin Thomas
Boston University News Service 

BROOKLINE -There are two things Roger Gartland seriously dislikes: lines, and liberals. Today though, at the Coolidge Corner Library in Brookline, the Republican was willing to deal with the former in order to avoid dealing with the latter for another four years.

“Don’t make the mistake of thinking that anything is this country has improved. Sure, sometimes you have to take a step back to go forward but we’ve been running backwards for four years,” he said.

A retired banker, Gartland, 74, is firmly rooted in the belief that another term of President Barack Obama could do irreversible damage to a failing system.

“There’s a little something that needs fixing around here and it’s called the economy. We can’t wait any longer. If I die before the economy is fixed, you’re in trouble,” he said.

Originally from Harvard, Mass., but now a resident of Brookline, Gartland comes from a big family that never went a day without discussing politics, he says.

“I haven’t always been interested in politics but I pretended I was until I actually was,” he recalled.

However, he considers this election different than those in the past for personal reasons. Never before, he said, has he been reluctant to give his vote to the Republican Party, which he has been a registered voter in for 55 years.

Discouraged by political animosity and disengaged by media hysteria, Gartland is concerned that people don’t know why to vote for their respective candidates.

Nor has he been so worried about the apathy of the country.

“I consider myself a hard-line conservative and even I can’t be jazzed about Romney,” he said.

Regardless, Gartland attempts to stir up political discussions with his neighbors in line, sprinkling in right-wing rhetoric when he can.

“Well,” he said to the general crowd, “we have some cleaning up to do.”