A friend of mine and I were talking a few weeks ago about whether or not he should vote for Ralph Nader in this coming election. His main reason for doing so was that he felt that he could not necessarily trust Obama to be a positive change to this country, that he was just talk. My friend then stated that if he voted for Nader, he could not only vote for someone he trusted and respected, but he could be sure that (since Nader is guaranteed not to win this election) his vote would not contribute this country going further down the tubes.
I found it very interesting that someone was specifically willing to vote for a candidate with no chance of winning *for that reason*. Voting for Nader allowed my friend to both a) make a personal statement of dissatisfaction with the modern two-party system and b) not give his vote any actual significance, pre-emptively washing his hands clean of any guilt his vote might cause. In a sense, voting for Ralph Nader became his way of doing the cliched "writing in 'Donald Duck'" vote but in a serious way.
It's an extremely "right brain" way of looking at elections. The kind of voters we most hear about are the "left brain" voters, the ones who analyze candidate's positions, character, backgrounds, records, speeches and campaign messages to see who, if anyone, best fits their worldview. Sometimes they are passionate about a candidate, sometimes they are not. Usually, no candidate has a 100% match to any voter's personal positions, often not even an 80%+ match. In traditional left brain thinking, undecided voters tend to rationalize their final choices based on party affiliations, if the candidates' records aren't enough. Left brain voters usually come around to the two-party system, for better or for worse, because they want their vote to directly impact the election.
We often don't hear about "right brain" voters, and I think that's because those voters wind up either associating with third parties, writing in protest votes, or not voting at all. They are conceding that their vote won't affect the outcome in any presidential election, but are willing to do so for emotional or moral reasons, rather than rational or logical reasons. They would rather vote for who their conscience tells them to, even if there's no chance they will win.
There are many reasons to vote for anyone not named Obama or McCain this election. There are even more reasons not to vote for the GOP/Dems on a local level. But I think this election, in particular, best combines the two sides of the brain and makes voting for a candidate a chance to make a statement AND a practical exercise. A vote for Obama, for instance, is a practical vote for a Democrat, but also a protest vote against the last 8 years of Bush/GOP rule. When I told my friend this, he felt more comfortable voting for Obama.
I would also say to anyone thinking of voting for Bob Barr, Chuck Baldwin, Ron Paul or any other third party right-wing candidate to vote for McCain, for similar reasons. But is this the right election to "sit out" by voting for anyone else other than McCain/Obama, for whatever reason? Should someone ever consider a vote for McCain/Obama a "concession" if they like neither? I'd have to say no, but maybe others differ...
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
I have to say i have mixed feelings about your friends decision. Although i have to agree with him that i to am very confused about who to vote for and i am not particuarly leaning towards either candidate. I do not think it is a good idea to purposely vote for the guy you KNOW wont win.
I mean one of the two HAS to win so my thinking isyou may as well research and pick the lesser of two evils to vote for instead of essentially giving up and voting for the guy whou can't win.
Ben, freakin awesome post bro! I do agree with you man, but also cannot stand the thought of me voting for McCain with my knowledge of what is happening to the republican party. The Republican party has to fall and regain it's stature on true republican issues. The Eagle has been creeping left on the political spectrum, and will continue to do so as we have liberal republicans. We need the pendulum to Stop in the balanced center of the spectrum. It is not in the balanced center!!! With Obama, it will inevitably push us into a pure socialistic country. McCain will simply take the Fascist route that will inevitably happen. They are the SAME THING almost. So, Ron Paul has my vote. A lot of Liberal minds like Ron Paul, along with those who are republican, who believe the republican party needs to get back into it's position, and rebalance washington.
The bottom line here, is they are both conspirators. Which conspirator will you vote for?
Amy, I am with you though on picking the lesser of 2 evils, but cannot this time around. I am tired of choosing 1 of 2 evils.
I am all about voting for who you think is best, regardless of their chances of winning. I think you have to be able to sleep at night. *laugh* If you think you can live with the lesser of two evils and be okay with your decision, great! But I don't think it does anyone (or the country) any good to simply continue buying into the two party system without any independent though.
My dilema is shouldn't I make my vote count? I am not shy in saying that I don't like either candidate but would I not just be throwing my vote away if I didn't vote for "the lesser of two evils?"
I think it would be best that everyone had voted for either McCain or Obama because the competition really is just between those two and not all the others. Like the other students in the class were saying: yeah, I feel like it would be a waste of a vote to choose someone else other than McCain or Obama even though I’ve heard that many people do not like either one of them, so it is almost a toss up. Although, I do not think it is so much as a toss up because I’ve seen more Obama supporters than McCain.
I think that the people who really know what they are doing and are really into the whole politic thing, knows who would be the best person to vote for even though it was a tough decision to make. I just hope that we don’t sink into another depression era because that would not be good. Although, I also think that if we did, maybe we can repeat history to get us back out again.
Post a Comment