The 2000 elections will be the first presidential election in which I can legally vote. I plan on doing so. But:
My political leaning are generally republican/moderate libertarian in nature, but I can’t in good conscience vote for that family-values spewing, anti-abortionist, in-bed-with-the-christian-coalition, straight-C-student son-of-an-ex-president George W. “W” Bush. Is it just me or have the republicans moved away from sensible political philosophy to stupid-ass family-value theocratical tripe in the past ten years? I kinda liked W’s dad. And what’s with exactly ONE nomination at the convention? What the hell is the point of even having the convention, then?
I can’t in good conscience vote for some pansy-assed hippie liberal who wants to tax me 80% and spend it on “social programs” that don’t work so the welfare queens can buy their crack with my tax money.
I can’t in good conscience not vote, since then I wouldn’t be able to (in good conscience) bitch about everything.
So what the fuck?
I don’t like bipartisantism, and I may end up just throwing my ballot at some third party dude, but it’s impossible to win, so what’s the point?
I have the same problem every time I have to vote.
Which self-serving lying bastard will I give my vote to today?
Don’t know how the system works in the States but over in Ireland we are given a list of candidates and put no.'s beside there names ( proportional representation ) . A lot of people think that there should be a "None of the above" box so you can register a protest vote.
But there are some choices for the creative voter. The news hacks say that a vote for any of the third party wannabes is like voting against one or the other of the main wannabes. I’m not sure exactly how this works, and I suspect the news hacks may be full of shit, but it sounds good to me. Looks like the trick is to select the one that best resembles the brain-damaged dolt you hate the most.
Or, you can just write in ‘Mickey fucking Mouse’, like I did back when Dick the Weasel was running.
Although the same conflict causes many people not to vote, if you really are thoroughly disgusted by both canidates with a "snowball in hell"s chance of winning, go ahead and go for some of the super third party canidates. You might like Harry Browne (sp?) based upon the views that you have expressed.
Not that any of them will win, but with luck, one of them might rise to the level of fame and celebrity as say, Bushe’s VP’s First Lady’s Garbage Collector’s close friend and football buddy.
I firmly believe that they should have a “none of the above” option on the presdential ballot. And all joking aside, I would go in and vote none of the above. Most politicains right now think that the lack of voter turnout is becuase of apathy, rather than dissilliusionment. If it was posible to get the word out that we’re not to lazy to vote, but instead don’t want to vote for the options presented, there would be much more possibility of new parties running candidate.
I know the feeling, friedo. I’ve been voting in presidential elections since 1984, and I think this year is the worst yet in terms of the major party choices. I will probably hold my nose and vote for the lesser evil as I see it, but I am seriously considering voting Libertarian this year.
A vote for a third party is not a wasted vote. It tells the Ds and Rs that they are pissing people off, for one thing–something they will cogitate on later. And it encourages the smaller parties to keep plugging away, which keeps the other options in play.
Hey Friedo et al., a vote for a third-party candidate is no more of a wasted vote than any other vote you make. Our current presidential election process makes every vote meaningless.
Presidents are not elected by the general populace, but by the *electoral college* whose members are (in most cases, depends on the state) appointed by the governor of each state. In theory the electors vote the way their state's population votes, but nothing *requires* them to do so.
IMO, a vote for a third-party candidate is the best vote. The more publicity these groups receive, the more people might wake up and realize that a strong two-party system hurts our country. The best chance the other partys have for publicity is to have a noticable presence in the general election.