election-year dilemma

[cellio]

I'm feeling conflicted about November's election. I can just hear the majority of my readers now: "You doofus! You live in a swing state! It's a no-brainer; you have to vote for Kerry!"

Well, except, I don't support Kerry. I don't support Bush either, and he'd be the worse choice of those two. I support Michael Badnarik, who comes closest among those running to my beliefs about government.

There are those who say that voting for a minor-party candidate is throwing my vote away. Actually, though, a vote for a minor-party candidate does more than a vote for a candidate you don't believe in. Every vote for a minor-party candidate helps that minor party get closer to the spotlight, which could (eventually) help break the stranglehold the Republicans and Democrats have on the American public's attention. By voting for the person I believe in, I (1) express what I really believe, which is supposed to be the point, (2) help keep the Libertarians on the ballot and voter-registration cards in PA, and, if enough others do the same thing, (3) get at least a few other people saying "so just what are Libertarians, anyway?". Not voting for a minor-party candidate because he can't win creates a self-fulfilling prophecy.

The alternative is to abandon those principles because "this year really matters" and vote for the least-bad viable candidate, which is Kerry. I disagree with Kerry (and his party) on many things, which is why I can't give him my first-tier support, but the thought of Bush appointing any more judges to further savage our civil liberties is frightening. Am I obligated to compromise my principles to try to prevent that outcome? But if I do, am I not just responding to scare tactics? So far as I know no one has recently won Pennyslvania by even a four-digit number of votes, let alone the few hundred that led to the Florida fiasco or the single vote that I represent. By voting for Kerry, am I not saying that minor parties are interesting as parlor games but not when it really matters? Where are those principles now? As the old joke goes, we've already established what I'd be; now we're just haggling over price. [1]

I've considered looking for a voting partner in a non-swing state. That doesn't help minor parties in PA, but it at least lets me help my candidate at the national level. I didn't support Nader, so I'm unfamiliar with how the vote-sharing scheme worked last time. How do you establish trust? Mind, I'm not convinced that this would be appropriate, but it's an option I'm open to.

With Nader in the race, I am not assuming that any other minor-party candidate will get any attention. But again, there's that self-fulfilling prophecy thing; if no one votes for them because of that, they certainly won't get any attention.

So I welcome further thoughts on the matter. What factors am I failing to consider? I ask that you take as given that I don't support Kerry; let's not do that debate here. This is about the proper application of principles in a messy world.

[1] A man in a bar asks a beautiful woman if she would sleep with him for a million dollars. She says ok, in that case she would. He then offers her $20 and she says "what do you think I am?!" He responds: "we've already established that; now we're just haggling over price".

Comments

[indigodove.livejournal.com]

I understand how you feel (yes, despite the Kerry sign in our front yard). Kerry wasn't my first choice for president either (I wanted Kucinich, who may as well have been a third party canidate). But given the damage Bush has done to our world reputation and our civil liberties, I think getting him out of office is the most important thing.

All elections matter, not just this one. I don't really like any of the options available to me for president this year (that I'm aware of, at least). But, if those of us who disagree with mainstream America vote following the best dictates of our consciences, we're likely to end up with four more years of Bush, and I don't like to think about what the USA will look like after that. So, I'm willing to support the lesser evil in hopes of greater good.

I don't think you've overlooked anything, or that you haven't already considered the things I've written here. But, I'd urge you to consider the bigger picture with the election this year. If Bush wins (and he is likely to do so, I'm afraid), our civil liberties will be in even more danger than they are now. So, I really think the principled thing to do is to vote for Kerry this time.

I will step off my soapbox now. Like I said, you already know these things. But, you asked for opinions, and that's mine.

[cellio]

Don't worry; I'm not worried about your Kerry sign turning you into some sort of pod-person. :-) (And I, too, would have liked to see more from Kucinich.)

Thanks for the feedback! No worries about the soapbox; I did ask, and it's not that high a soapbox anyway.