FreeTraveler
02-16-2012, 07:11 PM
Don't Throw Away Your Vote - Vote for the Candidate You Really Want
http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/02/dont-throw-away-your-vote.html
This one should help convince those people who think voting for anyone but the anointed candidates is a wasted vote.
Abstract:
How often have you heard it said that voting for anyone but a Republican or a Democrat is "throwing away your vote?"
There's the "lesser of two evils" argument, which declares that if you "throw away your vote" the candidate who's worse than the candidate you should vote for will get elected.
There's the "wasted vote" argument, which declares that if you don't vote for a candidate who the pollsters say has a chance of winning, you might as well not bother voting, because your candidate won't win anyway.
{A couple more examples of reasons not to "waste your vote}
Why is this "throwing away your vote" mantra preached so religiously, particularly by the Republican and Democrat parties and the political pundits? Could it be that they're well-positioned to profit from business as usual if the reins are handed back and forth between them on a regular basis, but face the possibility of real change upsetting their applecart if someone outside the political duopoly wins office? If voting for someone other than a Democrat or a Republican really is "throwing your vote away," why do they bother to recommend against it so strongly?
A Dose of Reality
{Pointing out that one vote couldn't have made the difference between Obama and McCain anywhere.}
So what message did your vote actually send in the 2008 election? Combined, the Democrats and Republicans garnered 129,446,455 votes out of 131,070,005, while 1,623,550 people voted for someone else. The message sent to the two major parties was that 98.76% of the voting public was satisfied with the two options they were offered for President, while only one and one-quarter percent of the population were unhappy enough to choose otherwise.
Is that really the message you intended to send to the two-party system when you voted?
{Some reasons to vote for a third-party candidate.}
If you vote for someone with policies you don't agree with, isn't that really throwing away your vote? If you only vote for one of the two "party-approved" candidates, isn't that a tacit admission that the two parties have done an acceptable job of selecting candidates you're willing to choose between? Wouldn't a "protest vote" for a candidate who can't possibly win have more impact on the quality of future candidates offered by the two parties?
{What your vote should mean to you.}
You know, if enough people "threw their votes away", things might actually change. But...ya know, that'd be throwing their votes away!
...and that's all I have to say about that.
Whole thing at http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/02/dont-throw-away-your-vote.html
Hope it proves helpful to some people!
http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/02/dont-throw-away-your-vote.html
This one should help convince those people who think voting for anyone but the anointed candidates is a wasted vote.
Abstract:
How often have you heard it said that voting for anyone but a Republican or a Democrat is "throwing away your vote?"
There's the "lesser of two evils" argument, which declares that if you "throw away your vote" the candidate who's worse than the candidate you should vote for will get elected.
There's the "wasted vote" argument, which declares that if you don't vote for a candidate who the pollsters say has a chance of winning, you might as well not bother voting, because your candidate won't win anyway.
{A couple more examples of reasons not to "waste your vote}
Why is this "throwing away your vote" mantra preached so religiously, particularly by the Republican and Democrat parties and the political pundits? Could it be that they're well-positioned to profit from business as usual if the reins are handed back and forth between them on a regular basis, but face the possibility of real change upsetting their applecart if someone outside the political duopoly wins office? If voting for someone other than a Democrat or a Republican really is "throwing your vote away," why do they bother to recommend against it so strongly?
A Dose of Reality
{Pointing out that one vote couldn't have made the difference between Obama and McCain anywhere.}
So what message did your vote actually send in the 2008 election? Combined, the Democrats and Republicans garnered 129,446,455 votes out of 131,070,005, while 1,623,550 people voted for someone else. The message sent to the two major parties was that 98.76% of the voting public was satisfied with the two options they were offered for President, while only one and one-quarter percent of the population were unhappy enough to choose otherwise.
Is that really the message you intended to send to the two-party system when you voted?
{Some reasons to vote for a third-party candidate.}
If you vote for someone with policies you don't agree with, isn't that really throwing away your vote? If you only vote for one of the two "party-approved" candidates, isn't that a tacit admission that the two parties have done an acceptable job of selecting candidates you're willing to choose between? Wouldn't a "protest vote" for a candidate who can't possibly win have more impact on the quality of future candidates offered by the two parties?
{What your vote should mean to you.}
You know, if enough people "threw their votes away", things might actually change. But...ya know, that'd be throwing their votes away!
...and that's all I have to say about that.
Whole thing at http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/02/dont-throw-away-your-vote.html
Hope it proves helpful to some people!