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Sep
02

Wasting My Vote.

“Why are you voting third party?You know that’s only going to help Obama get re-elected?”

No other political question irks me more than that one. Part of the reason being that they are right even if they are speaking sheep. I will link a video at the end of this bitchfest explaining first past the post voting and why they are right. As the video will explain, the best strategic move would be for me to vote for whichever of the main two candidates I agree with most. My problem is, I hate them both with equal vitriol. I despise the Democrats and Republicans equally and blame them both for the incredible morass this country finds itself in. The unbridled spending. The erosion of personal rights. The endless wars. The asinine war on drugs. The corporatization of our political system. The list is literally endless.

What do I want, you ask? I am Libertarian. That means fiscally conservative and socially tolerant. I want small government. I want a balanced budget and to stop borrowing money. I want the government to get off my back and out of my emails. I want to fly without having my daughters hoo-ha groped by some high school dropout. I want to be able to smoke a doobie as easily as I can go buy a six pack. I want homosexuals to be treated like fellow human beings in this ridiculous hetero rat race. The list is literally endless.

If you held a gun to my head and made me choose between Obama and Romney, I would pick Obama and I am going to try to explain why. Although I disagree more with Democrats, they are at least straight forward about what they want to do. Republicans lie. They lie so much it is just normal. And all you people just eat it up. If the Republicans were at least fiscally responsible in any shape, form or fashion, I would vote for them. But they are not. Not in the slightest. Did you know the plans of Romney and Paul Ryan both raise the deficit? Or do you just not care?

So when it comes time to step up to my voting partition, I can’t bring myself to vote for either of these “lesser” evils. In my mind, that just pours gasoline on a burning house. I will vote for the guy that most closely represents my belief system. That happens to be Gary Johnson of the Libertarian Party in the 2012 election. I know he isn’t going to win. But what you need to know is that I am not helping either Obama or Romney win. Because if I wasn’t voting for Johnson, I wouldn’t vote at all. That is where I disagree with the video that I am going to post. It assumes that there is one of the main parties that I prefer over the other. There isn’t. I wouldn’t vote for either of those jackasses if I got free beer for life. I can cast my vote for real change and sleep like a baby knowing I didn’t contribute to the eventual failure of this country. My hope is that someday, people are going to realize that we are in a whirlpool and make the common sensed jump to liberty. Until then, I guess I am gonna just keep bitchin’.

First Past the Post Voting

Permanent link to this article: http://www.missingtheground.com/2012/09/wasting-my-vote/

  • Mac

    I may have been a little loose with the free beer for life comment. I think if that bad boy was actually on the table, we might all rethink a few things.

    September 03 2012
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    • Harmony

      My husband and I both voted third party last election (without knowing one another had..I thought that was neat, he thought I was being silly) and I don’t see that changing this year (on my part anyhow).

      I don’t mind political posts, it’s the heated debates that get to me. Although, I don’t quite mind those either, as long as I am not involved it. IDK..I’ll read anything.

      September 03 2012
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      • TDW

        Great post, Mac. I’m seriously considering a 3rd party vote this year. Gary Johnson is more palatable than any other Republican (he should have been their nominee), but his ideas and mine don’t mesh. If the Green Party has a candidate on the ballot, I may go that route. I long for the day when we have a multi-party system.

        September 03 2012
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        • Travellinbaen

          Yeah, I’d vote for just about anything for free beer for life, especially if I could go back in time.

          I find it amusing that anybody could criticize anybody else regarding “wasting” a vote for going 3rd party. I would take the position that all our votes are pretty much wasted.

          September 03 2012
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          • Edward

            I concur. Except for maybe that beer part!!

            September 02 2012
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            • I hate the “You’re wasting you’re vote” comment. It’s my vote, and I live in a country where I’m allowed to cast it. If only have of these people in America knew what it was like to not have the right to voting… Voting is YOUR voice and certain places are so bad where your voice can get you killed. There’s a lot of things you can take from me, but my vote is something that cannot!

              September 02 2012
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              • Rip Raring

                You’re not alone in your disenchantment with both parties, and the apparently deliberately divisive, farcical system which provides us with the traditional narrow choice between only two invariably unpalatable non-choices.

                September 02 2012
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                • Mac

                  Thanks Ben. For the record, this is the first political post here in quite awhile as I have been cognizant of the regulars dissatisfaction recently with the subject. As to the TSA, I have a problem with anything that doesn’t make sense. If they were making us any safer, I would not have as much of a problem with it. The crew and especially the baggage handlers could put a bomb the size of a large suitcase on any plane in this country any day of the week. So we are submitting to these molestations for pretty much no reason at all.

                  September 02 2012
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                  • Travellinbaen

                    Good stuff Mac. I know a lot of people say they don’t want to read politics, but I personally enjoy hearing/reading people speak/write from the heart instead of from their party’s published talking points.

                    One of these days I’m gonna make my case about why Libertarians are closer philosophically to liberals than conservatives. But not right now. In fact, I hold the suspicion that many libertarians are simply liberals who haven’t faced up to being what has become a pejorative term to so many. Don’t try to draw me in today. I’m hoarding my ammo.

                    On the whole, I can’t argue with many of your premises.

                    The one thing that seems overblown to me is the TSA in the airport thing. I only fly about 3 times a year, so I’m not basing this on a wealth of experience, but I have had no trouble with TSA since the year or two right after 9-11. There are legit privacy/civil liberty issues with TSA, and there are gaping holes in the “protection” they provide, but I hear an out of proportion amount of bitching about that subject. Again, based on my limited anecdotal knowledge.

                    September 02 2012
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