It just encourages the bastards
I find mulling my options in most elections to be the equivalent of seeing two turds in a punch bowl and me and someone else arguing over which turd tastes slightly less bad. Then we get consumed in that discussion and totally lose sight of the fact we’re arguing over two pieces of shit and how stupid arguing over that is. So now, I vote my conscious or don’t vote at all. I’ve never felt right since pulling the lever for McCain. I bring that up because of Bobbi’s comment from here:
I’ll still vote LP, ‘cos neither face of the Elephant is any more serious about liberty than the jackasses across the aisle.
September 30th, 2011 at 9:34 am
I won’t tell you to not vote your conscience but I believe a third party vote is a vote for Obama.
September 30th, 2011 at 9:43 am
I used to feel that way, 1, but each time I voted GOP (feeling like a complete idiot (Dole, GWB (second term), McCain, Lamar Alexander, et al) the GOP rewards me with another sold-out corporatist nominee in the next election and tells me that he or she is, at a minimum, better than the Democrat.
The GOP left me a long time ago.
At this point, it needs me worse than I need it.
I just read an article online that Romney has consistently failed to garner more than 50% of voters who identify themselves as Republicans.
And yet he is the titular leader of the GOP field.
At this point, I’m looking more and more seriously at Ron Paul as a write-in vote if he doesn’t win the GOP nomination or run as a 3rd party candidate.
September 30th, 2011 at 10:06 am
Really, the only difference is one party the media covers for, the other the media attacks.
Granted, that keeps the Republicans from saying (and I suppose doing) the more stupid of things: like calling for canceling elections, but that’s about it.
As for the lesser of 2 evils… it’s all “the lesser of N evils”, I wouldn’t trust any politician(even the wookies).
If you think you’ve actually found the man on a white horse then I’ve got a bridge to sell you.
Sure, you can try to get better people in office, but as long as they can flaunt the Constitution, line their pockets, expand their statist control, and not be tared and feathered or put in prison… well they’re just going to keep doing it ain’t they?
September 30th, 2011 at 10:17 am
If a third party is a vote for Obama then that is saying that the two major parties OWN all the votes.
There were SIX candidates on the ballot last election, including TWO from the LEFT (Nader and McKinney) which would not be a vote for Obama. I didn’t WASTE MY VOTE on McCain or Obama, I voted FOR Chuck Baldwin of the Constitution Party and I was right in doing so. Obama has been NO CHNGE. He has continued virtually everything done by Clinton and Bush.
And Chris, I agree.
I grew up as in a Democratic family. That party left me. I started voting for Republicans. For the most part, except for a very few, they have left me. I’ll be voting FOR Ron Paul who is a candidate that supports the Constitution and Bill of Rights by WORD and DEED running as a Republican. If he doesn’t get the nomination, then unless some unforeseen Constitutionalist steps forward and breaks through the corporate fascist oligarchy of the two parties, I’ll be voting “third” or fourth or fifth..party”.
September 30th, 2011 at 10:24 am
“What if…”
This is what voting “the lesser of two evils” has given us, because it ain’t “if”:
http://lewrockwell.com/napolitano/napolitano24.1.html
September 30th, 2011 at 11:01 am
Huh. No one said “What if”. Whatcha quotin’ there?
Anyway. yhis is why I’d really like to have negative voting as an option. Tere’s no one I’m really for, but there’s one guy I’m especially against.
That way you can vote against someone in office without having to pretend you’re endorsing some other goober.
How does one know the constitutionalist candidtate or the wookie will really do what they promised they will?
They can lie just like any other person. That’s why having consequences to a politican’s actions are more important than making sure you get the “right” person in office.
And there’s obviously interplay between the two.
There is some merit to going against the incumbent by voting for #2 even if he isn’t much better. Sure things aren’t much better but at least a scoundrel is thrown out of office for bad behaviour (at the price of a new scoundrel).
It’s all about how bad you think #1 is relative to #2 and #N (the least worst in of those running).
Though that being said, odds are I won’t be voting for the Republican either.
Making the Mass AWB permanant and okaying an “Individual Mandate” are pretty clear no-gos in my book.
September 30th, 2011 at 11:06 am
Why choose the lesser evil?
In all seriousness though, I voted for Harry Browne in 2000 (I was 19 years old… cut me some slack eh?) and have been a conscientious non-voter since. I am well aware of the arguments on each side and have made my decision after careful consideration. Not voting is the only decision I am personally comfortable with.
If Ron Paul or Gary Johnson were to somehow become the GOP nominee I might have to do some serious reconsidering, but as it stands I doubt I’ll run into that problem.
September 30th, 2011 at 11:32 am
Often your only choice it to vote against someone.
The proper course to avoid that is to win the nomination, and have someone you can vote for. In order to do that, you have to be active in the party, and that includes agreeing to vote for the winner of the nomination process.
If you want good nominees, get active in your party. Call your county org, and find out when they meet, and what they need help with.
September 30th, 2011 at 11:40 am
The lesser of two evils is still evil. There was no way I could vote for McCain, so Bob Barr got my vote.
It’s gotten to the point that when politics comes up in discussions, my suggestion to people that aren’t hardcore Democrats or Republicans, is to go vote for independent candidates. A pox on both major parties!
September 30th, 2011 at 12:13 pm
The ballot is filled with evils, clowns, and turkeys. Sometimes we’re lucky enough to get all three in one. And while I’d love to be able to vote “no”, or even “none of the above”, I’ll vote in the optimum fashion to keep the biggest bastard out of the office, even if it means voting for the second-biggest bastard.
September 30th, 2011 at 12:32 pm
I despise having to hold my nose while I vote too. However I think the best course of action is to change the party you associate with from within rather than leave it. For the short time it has been in existence the influence the T.E.A. party has mustered is huge. Yes, we as a country have a long way yet to go before we a back to where we need to be but thankfully we live in an age where we don’t need the MSM to share our message. They hate us for that. That’s also why they are propping up Romney. Bottom line: We can’t afford another Obama term; 4 years of nothing-to-lose lame duck policies and judge appointments is enough to make me lose sleep.
September 30th, 2011 at 1:00 pm
I’m holding out until next year. Who knows, the Damned Horse may learn to Sing after all.
September 30th, 2011 at 1:26 pm
I voted Barr. McCain is only slightly left of Obama. I’m not sure we would have noticed the difference.
I’m very afraid the next GOP candidate will be Herman Cain. If I have to choose between Cain or Obama to prove I’m not a racist I’m gonna have to vote Obama cuz he has more experience.
I really hate this.
September 30th, 2011 at 1:29 pm
It’s very unlikely I’ll vote next election, for anybody. I may even demonstrate outside my local polling place.
I’ve come to understand, mostly via Billy Beck, that voting is no longer about choosing your leader.
It’s about agreeing to be ruled, agreeing to go along with whoever gets elected.
Uh uh. The government has long since demonstrated that it is outside the law. I will not be ruled by lawless despots, and won’t vote for any of them. We’ve moved beyond the ballot box as a possible remedy.
(I do not claim to accurately represent Beck’s position, only to state my own as inspired by him.)
September 30th, 2011 at 1:32 pm
And don’t tell me that every vote makes a difference.
If the whole lot, from King Zero on down, isn’t thrown out on their ears next election by huge overwhelming majorities, then the voters deserve whoever and whatever the hell they get.
September 30th, 2011 at 2:00 pm
Jack,
The linked article in my #5 comment posed the rhetorical “what if” throughout the column by Judge Andrew Napolitano.
September 30th, 2011 at 2:36 pm
I hate to do this – at one level – but my inner word-use-maven is twitching over it.
I believe you mean “conscience”.
“Conscious” is an adjective describing you as aware and awake.
“Conscience” is that property of your awareness that makes judgments of moral propriety on your actions.
(It’s like “populace” vs. “populous” – drives me insane. Bloody homonyms.)
October 1st, 2011 at 12:49 am
If Romney gets the nod, I think I might abstain. I have no idea how that guy manages to have an (R) after his name, much less be a front runner in the field. I was planning on voting R just because of the Supreme Court… but Romney? He’s not going to nominate anyone reasonable.
October 1st, 2011 at 12:41 pm
If we get a third party up and running, whats to stop that party from getting corrupted? We win by pulling the GOP to our side. I will always vote GOP but I will always makes sure I participate in the primary and vote for the most libertarian candidate I can vote for. Over a period of decades, we can make a change (these are generational wars we are fighting, not for ourselves but for our kids. We, gen Xers, just have the downside of being the offspring of the worst generation this country has ever known).
we are winning. While the Tea Party has its problems at its core, its the beginning of what I have been voting for my entire life, and that attitude is shaping the next generation of the GOP.
Presidents are the tools or firewalls of their congresses. I will vote for Romney over Obama if he gets the nom, because that means he will be more likely to sign something into law like HR 822.
October 2nd, 2011 at 5:02 pm
My blushes! (Also, my editing was lousy in that comment).
I’m through voting for the big parties, other than, maybe, to put a stick in their spokes in the primary (the GOP needs start sayin’ “Sir” to Rep. Paul). Indiana gives us a few negative votes to cast, about retaining judges and such, and I do relish that chance.
October 3rd, 2011 at 12:53 pm
I’ll grant republicans are only slightly less bad than dems most of the time; the reason I can hold my nose tight enough to pull the R lever is supreme court nominations.
October 5th, 2011 at 3:19 am
I quit voting after the 1994 GOP takeover of the house in DC, and saw that, just like the Democrats, the GOP quickly started to reward their friends (read: donors), which trend was exacerbated after 2000, which led to the Democrat victory in 2006 and especially 2008. In the latter year, Glenn Reynolds was correct in his statement that the GOP deserved to lose but the Democrats didn’t deserve to win.
It’s something of a moot point, though, vis-a-vis my not voting; my residential location kind of renders voting on my part somewhat of a futile exercise anyway, because I live in something of a one-party district in a one-party state, Texas. There aren’t many Democrats in office from my part of the state.