Rodgenet.net

I recently talked with someone whose opinions I respect the other day, and he said something that disturbs me. He said you need to vote for candidate X because a vote for anyone else but candidate Y is really a vote for candidate Y (names withheld to protect the innocent). He meant to say that voting for candidate A, B, C, or Z will really support candidate Y because they won’t be votes for candidate X. (Sounds complicated without the names, but if you read it carefully, you can see what I mean.) I maybe naive, but a vote for candidate A, B, C, or Z is precisely that…a vote for candidate A, B, C or Z. It’s not wasted; no vote is ever wasted.  And it is not a proxy vote for candidate Y.

I see where he’s coming from…he’s echoing something the media harps on after every election and it’s an attitude that has perpetuated the two-party system in this country for decades: a vote for a non-standard party candidate is really a vote for the one of the standard-party candidates.  It’s as if your vote for candidate Z morphs into a vote for candidate Y (who’s a standard-party candidate) because it didn’t get candidate X elected (who’s also a standard-party candidate).  There is no black and white in a presidential election; multiple parties run, multiple parties get votes.

I can’t believe that my vote is really a proxy vote for one of the standard parties.  If that were true, then we don’t have a democracy in this country, we have an oligarchy that allows its citizens to choose which party will be in power.  That would be really bad.  Then, I shouldn’t vote at all, because I don’t like the standard parties.  And I think a lot of people do just that because they don’t really have a choice.  In a land of infinite choices, the best Presidential choice this country can provide is either a Republican or a Democrat?  This is truly sad.

How will we ever have true change in this country if we keep electing the same parties over and over again?  No one seems to want to leave their comfort zones.

I paraphrase fmr. Gov. Jesse Ventura: “This country only gives you a choice between Coke or Pepsi.  If you want Dr. Pepper, Orange soda or Root Beer, you’re screwed.”  I wholeheartedly agree.  I want Dr. Pepper for the next four years — my palate is tired of either Coke or Pepsi.