Tonight I will vote (absentee
ballot) and when I do I will cast my vote for a 3rd party
presidential candidate. I
initially decided to vote this way after realizing that I was trying to decide
which major party candidate I liked less. The thought disturbed me. Is this
what the founders had in mind, decade after decade of presidents who we
disliked less? I didn’t think so, and therefore I began to do some research,
determined to find a candidate that I could actually believe in (even if it
meant I would have to write a name in). I was surprised to find that there were
more active presidential candidates then I had initially realized. I did some reading and some fact
checking and then I chose the candidate I really believed had the best
record/platform. In truth this
process was both easier and more rewarding then I thought it would be.
Unfortunately, while I was
pleasantly surprised to find a candidate I liked, it was far less pleasant to
experience people’s reaction to my decision. According to many, I might as well
not vote if I intended to vote 3rd party. Both online and off I have
met with a mix of negative reactions ranging from the conclusion that I was naive
to the conclusion that I was stupid. It was these reactions, which have led me
to write this particular piece defending my decision. The following is not
meant to sway you away from a candidate you believe in, however, if like myself
you not sure you can believe in what the democrats and republicans are selling, then I encourage you not to give in but to stand up. If you are part of what I believe to be a silent majority
then the following arguments are for you.
1.
Voting
for the lesser of two evils is still a vote for evil. In recent years I have heard (and I
acknowledge have even said) “I am voting for the lesser of two evils” far more
than I am comfortable with. The problem with voting for the lesser of
two evils is that the result is still evil. Sure we may slow the rate at which
our country heads down the wrong path but we’re still on the wrong path. From here on out I do not vote for
evil.
2. Voting “against the other guy” is a less
productive form of protest. So
you don’t like either candidate. Still, you figure you have to choose A or B and you surely
don’t want A to get elected so you choose B. Let me explain why this form of
protest voting is ineffective. First, by voting against A instead of for a
candidate you want, you unintentionally tell B (and his party) that you are
happy with the job he is doing. This means that in elections to come you will
be provided with the same sort of choices. Don’t reinforce poor politics by
voting “against” the candidate you most dislike. It is far more effective to
vote for a candidate you believe in, even if they haven’t a hope in hell of
winning. When third party candidates start receiving enough votes to pull from
the Democrats and the Republicans both parties sit up and take notice. If they
wish to continue to win they have to find a way to take back some of those
third party votes. This generally means adopting some of the 3rd party's platform on
issues that pulled your vote in the first place. This in the long run only
serves to make both parties better. More importantly it serves to keep the
party you are most in agreement with informed of your desires as a
citizen.
3. Stop The Spiral of Silence. “The Spiral of Silence”
refers to a political science/mass communication theory that seeks to explain
in part how public opinion is formed. The theory was originally introduced by Elisabeth
Noelle-Neumann in 1974 and continues to be used today in a variety of studies.
In the simplest terms that theory tells us that people who believe that their
opinions are in the minority are less likely to express those opinions publicly
out of fear of isolation. As a result of this silence the “perceived” distance
between public opinion and personal opinion grows thus increasing the number of
people who remain silent. I believe that we are witnessing a silencing spiral
in our current political system. As the two major parties move ever
further away from each other on major issues, those of us somewhere in the
middle become less and less vocal and therefore encourage further movement to
the left or the right. Voting 3rd party allows those pushed into
silence to make their opinions public and in doing so turn the spiral around.
As more of us speak out, more of us will feel empowered to add our voice and end silence.
4. If this is “winning” I would rather lose. By
far the most common argument I heard against third party voting was the “they
can’t win” argument. It goes like this: Since a 3rd party candidate
has little chance of winning you are better off voting for the candidate who
most closely resembles your ideals.
In part this argument relies on your disliking one candidate more than
the other. Both major parties hope that you are so concerned about the other
party’s choice that you will vote for their piss poor excuse of a candidate
rather than risk tilting the vote in favor of the other guy. I will not bore
you by restating my argument against this kind of protest voting but I will ask
you to consider this: Is this what winning looks like? We have been falling
victim to this line of reasoning for decades and what has it gotten us?
Furthermore, would you accept such reasoning in other areas of your life?
Should we just get rid of all of the sports teams that don’t rank 1st
or 2nd leaving only the top two contenders to duke it
out? Seems to me the only people benefitting from such a proposal are the top
two teams. What about the rest of us. Personally, I would rather lose than stop
fighting.
Let me close by saying that I believe in democracy and I am
personally tired of the self-serving government that we the people have helped
to create. This year I will “waste” my vote on a losing candidate, secure in the
knowledge that that I am backing my conscience and not just a projected winner.
I hope that no matter your politics you too take this opportunity to review the
performance of your elected officials and tell them loud and clear what it is
you really want. In the words of John Quincy Adams “Always vote for principle,
though you may vote alone, and you may cherish the sweetest reflection that
your vote is never lost.”
Please feel free to leave your comments, questions and concerns below.
Mohandas K. Gandhi
