If there were a morally acceptable candidate offered by either major party, of course you could vote for that person in clear conscience. There isn’t, and therefore many people are settling for choosing the least-bad candidate.Yes.
Don’t do this.
Vote third party.
Why?
Voting third party is the most effective way for you to bring about a change of regime.
...
When you vote third party, you send a clear, unequivocal message that is formally recorded and measured. You indicate to the major parties, and to the rest of the citizenry, which way the reform needs to go in order to field a winning candidate.
Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.
Read it all at Sticking the Corners. No one can lay out a well reasoned, reasonable, Catholic argument like Jen Fitz.
My husband, Tom, points out that when we voted for Ross Perot, Bill Clinton received a clear message. When he won the presidency he didn't do it with a majority. Tom feels that was a major factor contributing to Clinton's consensus building.
Plus, the more I read about my third party candidate of choice, the more he reminds me of Calvin Coolidge. I love me some Silent Cal.
It's nice to be excited about a candidate again ... even if I know he won't win.
I don't think your husband is remembering the 1990's well. Bill Clinton's first two years were wildly left wing. He didn't learn anything from the 1992 election where Ross Perot threw the election for Clinton. Clinton wasn't moderate until after the 1994 mid term election where his party slaughtered and the Republicans got control of both houses of Congress for the first time in 40 years. If you remember prior to 1994 Clinton had Hillary try to create a socialized medical system. It was only after he was smashed in the mid term did he learn his lesson. Personally I think George Bush the father in 1992 would have been a heck of a better president than Clinton. We seem to remember him now as the best one term president in the past hundred years.
ReplyDeleteI disagree with voting third party. We have an obligation to the country to elect the best of the options on hand. The only viable options are a Democrat and a Republican. If you want to do your duty as a citizen, you pick the best of the two.
Oops, I meant to say "where his party was slaughtered..." Typo.
Delete