Thursday, October 30, 2008

Not Settling For Evils

A Wasted Vote 
by Chuck Baldwin 
October 10, 2008 



When asked why they will not vote for a third party candidate, many people will respond by saying something like, "He cannot win." Or, "I don't want to waste my vote." It is true: America has not elected a third party candidate since 1860. Does that automatically mean, however, that every vote cast for one of the two major party candidates is not a wasted vote? I don't think so.

In the first place, a wasted vote is a vote for someone you know does not represent your own beliefs and principles. A wasted vote is a vote for someone you know will not lead the country in the way it should go. A wasted vote is a vote for the "lesser of two evils." Or, in the case of John McCain and Barack Obama, what we have is a choice between the "evil of two lessers."

Albert Einstein is credited with saying that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting a different result. For years now, Republicans and Democrats have been leading the country in the same basic direction: toward bigger and bigger government; more and more socialism, globalism, corporatism, and foreign interventionism; and the dismantling of constitutional liberties. Yet, voters continue to think that they are voting for "change" when they vote for a Republican or Democrat. This is truly insane!"

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."

5 comments:

Denise said...

Love the thoughts here. I get tired of people saying a vote is "wasted". That quote at the end sums it up pretty well.

Jenny said...

This country was a far different place when Adams made that comment. There was a lot more room for other "parties" then -- we weren't locked into a 2 party system that early on. Even early in the 20th Century, the Bull Moose Party beat out the 2 main parties with Roosevelt! Who's to say that couldn't happen again? BUT, it would take an amazing man and God's providence for it to happen in this age. Since there is no one out there, third party or otherwise, that can win this time around, it ends up being a "wasted" vote.
I realize you all have been hashing around the idealisms or lack there of of politics and voting and such. But when it all comes down, there will be a new president in the next few days and it will be Obama or McCain. SO, if you have ANY preference of one over another, you'd BETTER VOTE!
This election has been so much smoke and mirrors. It's been amazing to me what people DON'T seem to care about with Obama. His indoctrination of children. His stance on abortion -- to the point of partial birth abortions. His lies. His background. The vagueness of HIM. His inability to explain how he's going to make the things happen that he says he's going to make happen -- and the total unfeasibility (is that a word?) of most of his financial "solutions".
I don't particularly like McCain either, but he seems more practical and grounded. On a personal note, Obama makes my head pound, my stomach churn and my skin crawl. McCain just kinda makes me itch;)

Susannah Forshey said...

I feel that voting for someone/something you do not truly support is incorrectly representing yourself as an American citizen. Incorrectly representing yourself is a waste of time. If a poll-taker calls you and asks you questions which you answer untruthfully, you have contributed false data to a system that will have an effect on the nation. You have wasted your opportunity to be represented. Voting is like a national poll. You are being asked to cast a vote for a person who represents you and your ideals. If you are not calling out your true opinions, what good have you done? If you don't represent yourself, who will? and what hope is there EVER for change (by change, I mean a return to the Constitution)? If it doesn't start with us minorities, it will never start.

By the way, protesting the 2-party system is at the foundation of my vote for Chuck Baldwin.

Jenny said...

I understand you thoughts. And I'm not completely disagreeing...I'd certainly support multi-party systems! HOWEVER, I think that the effort to gain that must happen long before election time. You can't just get to the fight for the election and decide to throw in someone outside a party and expect to make any long range impact. Show me someone who has made good waves throughout his career (political or otherwise), who has worked towards and gotten support for the nomination to an elected position. Someone who has made a big name for himself as a mover and shaker BEFORE the election process.
Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it!), a third party will need to do a lot more that kiss the appropriate Republican/Democrat butts to get nominated. It will take a lot of hard work. Most politicians are politicians -- actually working to deserve the position of responsibility is probably pretty foreign to most of them.
The way I see it, anything besides a McCain or Obama vote is throwaway at this point. It will have no impact on the election and no impact on history. It might make you "feel better about yourself" in that you were "true" to what you believe -- great. You've got a "clean" conscience and a rotten president. My conscience is just as clean but my way, we'll have a president that I can at least not flinch at. There's at least a good chance that my tax dollars won't be spent (more) on abortions. My child's education (probably) won't include indoctrination and propaganda (so much) (if I were to put her into school at some date). My husband's company might survive. My freedom to worship God is intact.
Those things (and a lot more) could all be threatened if the wrong man gets into office.
I have friends that won't vote because they believe that God will sway the election the way He wants. Well...God allows man to make his own decisions -- and the Bible shows that often times they're not good ones.
And... NO you're not being asked to cast a vote for someone who represents your ideals and goals. If that were true, I'd never vote for anyone -- no politician is going to represent me completely. If I'm really hot under the collar about an issue, I should be campaigning myself from the bottom up.
YOU're being asked to choose between 2 men to run our country and make decisions that will effect your future and the future of your children and their children.
You can protest all you want -- it doesn't change the results. If you want real change...find someone who you can really believe in and get him started campaigning NOW for the 2012 election! Maybe then you'll have a chance.

lislynn said...

We did actually get involved in working to support a third party candidate long before the election. We gave significantly to the campaign of Ron Paul and helped spread the word about his run. Jeremiah would agree with Mr Baldwin here. His theory is that percentage point by percentage point, election by election, dedicated people can indeed change our two party system into something more Democratic. That's generally how big changes are made.