Lets talk about one of my biggest pet-peeves. Oh how I really get upset when someone says "I'm voting for the 'lesser' of two evils". This is such a lazy remark. If you are one of these people I would really appreciate it if you at least read through this post and thought about it. I am going to go through an historical example about what happened on one occasion when we want to keep from splitting the vote and then I will go through my ethical problems with this.
Most of the people that I talked to back in 2007-2008 said that they were going to vote for the republican nominee so that they wouldn't split the vote and there by they voted for the "lesser" of two evils. As we watched the 2008 election unravel we saw Pres. Obama dominate the debates and in the end sweep the elections. I wonder now what many of these people felt as they watched their votes become irrelevant. Voting for the lesser of two evils is a losing battle. Why waste your vote? Even Yahoo news predicts that Obama will win the election if he runs against Bachmann, Romney, or Perry. But these are all people that many voters are confident in voting for to have "success" in these elections.
I find it amazing that we see this phenomenon happen every election year. People don't remember what happened last time. How can we forget the fact that so many people wasted a vote for a mediocre candidate.
Brian Irving (a libertarian) once said...
"However you want to justify or rationalize it, when you vote for the "lesser of two evils" you're not just betraying your principles but also abandoning all hope of ever having a government that respects and defends liberty and freedom." He goes on to say... "When you vote for a candidate who doesn't represent your views in order to stop another candidate who doesn't represent your views, you end up with a government that not only doesn't represent you views, but is run by people who have no incentive or motivation to even consider what you might think."
He has a key idea here. We lose our liberty and freedom when we vote for the lesser of two evils. Because of the fact that we give away our ability to voice our opinion. Why would you vote for the Republican candidate when they wont support your views? Doesn't that mean that they wont support your ideas once they are in office? And the vast majority does it for the sake of keeping a democrat out of office.
One of the most important things we need to realize is that we truly are not voting for the lesser of two evils...what we are doing is voting for a different evil. In the 2000 elections many people thought they were voting for a more non-interventionist candidate than the person that Bush became after the elections. Throughout the run for presidency Bush offered a very attractive foreign policy, one of peace and diplomacy. But just months after the elections, we find that all that we believed to be true was in fact not true. We voted in another politician like the rest.
Many people have asked my how I can waste my vote by voting for Ron Paul. I just have to laugh....because the way I see it...I am actually using my vote in the best way possible. I think everyone that voted for McCain wasted their vote. I can honestly walk up to the voting room and know that my conscience is clear and that I am supporting a man with a wealth of knowledge and the foundational principles that will uphold my personal beliefs. This is truly what is important to me....not whether or not a republican becomes president.
Most of the people that I talked to back in 2007-2008 said that they were going to vote for the republican nominee so that they wouldn't split the vote and there by they voted for the "lesser" of two evils. As we watched the 2008 election unravel we saw Pres. Obama dominate the debates and in the end sweep the elections. I wonder now what many of these people felt as they watched their votes become irrelevant. Voting for the lesser of two evils is a losing battle. Why waste your vote? Even Yahoo news predicts that Obama will win the election if he runs against Bachmann, Romney, or Perry. But these are all people that many voters are confident in voting for to have "success" in these elections.
I find it amazing that we see this phenomenon happen every election year. People don't remember what happened last time. How can we forget the fact that so many people wasted a vote for a mediocre candidate.
Brian Irving (a libertarian) once said...
"However you want to justify or rationalize it, when you vote for the "lesser of two evils" you're not just betraying your principles but also abandoning all hope of ever having a government that respects and defends liberty and freedom." He goes on to say... "When you vote for a candidate who doesn't represent your views in order to stop another candidate who doesn't represent your views, you end up with a government that not only doesn't represent you views, but is run by people who have no incentive or motivation to even consider what you might think."
He has a key idea here. We lose our liberty and freedom when we vote for the lesser of two evils. Because of the fact that we give away our ability to voice our opinion. Why would you vote for the Republican candidate when they wont support your views? Doesn't that mean that they wont support your ideas once they are in office? And the vast majority does it for the sake of keeping a democrat out of office.
One of the most important things we need to realize is that we truly are not voting for the lesser of two evils...what we are doing is voting for a different evil. In the 2000 elections many people thought they were voting for a more non-interventionist candidate than the person that Bush became after the elections. Throughout the run for presidency Bush offered a very attractive foreign policy, one of peace and diplomacy. But just months after the elections, we find that all that we believed to be true was in fact not true. We voted in another politician like the rest.
Many people have asked my how I can waste my vote by voting for Ron Paul. I just have to laugh....because the way I see it...I am actually using my vote in the best way possible. I think everyone that voted for McCain wasted their vote. I can honestly walk up to the voting room and know that my conscience is clear and that I am supporting a man with a wealth of knowledge and the foundational principles that will uphold my personal beliefs. This is truly what is important to me....not whether or not a republican becomes president.