There is a lot of vitriol about third party candidates being a cop-out vote, a waste of a trip to the voting booth. I voted for Ralph Nader in almost every
election until 2012, when I voted for Jill Stein. Did voting for Nader dilute the overall votes available for the two major parties? Yes. Would I have voted
for Bush or Gore, if not Nader, in 2000? No. Do I wish we hadn't had Bush for 8 years? Yes. Do I think Gore would have been a better president than Bush?
Yes. Do I feel guilty that we had Bush for 8 years? No. I didn't steal a vote from Bush or Gore to give to Nader. They never had my vote in the first place.
A "swing vote" is simply undecided. By definition, they are not sure who to support. I'm not an "undecided" voter settling on a third party. I have always been
third party, despite having been registered Republican until this past year. I am voting for Gary Johnson, because I like that he supports fiscal elements that
Republicans are for, as well as social positions that I have also, which tend toward the Democrats. He's what we like to call politically "well-rounded." He
SHOULD appeal to most voters, if they weren't so party-dedicated. I'm not saying he will win. The odds are very long. I AM saying that I refuse to contribute to
Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump getting the job. If I lose, I lose. But those two are not getting their hands on the Oval Office with my help. I know that infuriates
people who think stopping Trump is priority number one. But Trump doesn't win because I vote for Gary Johnson. I am not taking a vote away from Hillary. She never
had my vote in the first place. Trump wins because he gets more votes than the other candidates. And if Trump gets votes at all, let alone enough to beat other
candidates, then those who voted for him are responsible for whatever comes with him as president - not me. If you are voting party lines, just because, YOU are
wasting your vote. If you are ignoring everything wrong with your candidate and voting just to prevent the other one from winning, YOU are wasting your vote.
I don't have any obligation whatsoever to choose only from major party candidates. These candidates have an obligation to win me over. They have an obligation to
convince me that there is no one else available who's better than them. They have an obligation to show me that they should be trusted with the top job over any other.
They have an obligation to show me their character makes them better suited to the job and its high-stakes responsibilities than the others. THEY are obligated - not me.
This is one of those elections where your vote actually says who you are as a citizen and what you want in your leader. I really believe that. We've never had
major party candidates so generally hated by the voters. Which means this can't be a vote "against" someone. It has to be a vote "for" someone. Anything else,
in this state of electoral hatred, makes the voters as disingenuous as the candidates.
