Vote. It is your duty as an American citizen to Vote for a presidential candidate. That is all anyone has been talking about for the last four to 6 months. Presidential candidates this presidential candidates that. For the first couple of months of these six leading up to the election the main question on everyone’s mind was “Who is going to be running for president?” This question should now be changed to, who is running for president?. Do you know? If you were to only name two candidates you would be wrong. Even if you were to remember Ralph Nader and lump him together with Mr. Obama and Mr. McCain you would still be excluding three other major candidates. It is ok to not know really; I mean the largest goddamn propaganda force in the world, the Mainstream Media, only covers the two largest parties in the US, and even trying to find research on the internet is a little difficult to find if you do not know what you are looking for. For those of you who have voted before; didn’t you wonder who the other people on the ballot were? I know I did last time. With six people running for president (that are on the ballot for more than 40 states since some states don’t allow “third party” candidates) you think it would give us a bit of a wider choice to work with, but I digress. The six candidates are Chuck Baldwin (Constitution Party) Bob Barr (Libertarian Party), Cynthia McKinney (Green Party), Ralph Nader (Ind.), and of course everyone knows John McCain (Rep.), and Barack Obama (Dem.). Now I am not writing this article to endorse one candidate or another, but to let the student body realize that there are other choices out there, and that you don’t need to vote for someone because (as Mr. Ruic put it and I agree) they are cool, they go along with your party, or just because they are the lesser of two evils which is one that is thrown around a lot. “But Rob, voting for someone who isn’t a Democrat or Republican is throwing away your vote”. This statement makes me angrier than any other thing a person could ever say on the topic of politics. It’s this false belief that makes it true itself. Since everyone believes it, it practically is true, but if people would research and realize that there are more choices out there maybe they would vote for who they think would make the best president and would direct us in the correct direction. Isn’t that what democracy is all about; voting for someone whom you think is the best person for the job? Voting for neither a Democrat nor Republican is not a wasted vote; it’s a true democratic vote. Not voting is a waste. As John Quincy Adams said, “Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, and you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost.”