Sunday, October 14, 2012

I voted today

An absentee ballot by mail, as I always do:


Posted by Rakewell at 7:39 PM

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12 comments:

Anonymous said...

What a waste.

8:10 PM
socorro01 said...

Great Choice!!!!!

8:40 PM
Yakshi said...

Oh dear.

11:06 PM
Andy said...

I just don't understand why people choose to waste their vote on someone who has zero chance of winning.

I'm supporting Romney btw.

11:22 PM
Andy said...

What state are you voting in?

11:25 PM
Andy said...

Never mind. I just figured out it was Nevada by looking at the Senate race.

11:26 PM
Rakewell said...

Andy: I completely reject the idea that I'm "wasting" my vote. Frankly, it's a glib but stupid assertion.

I want radical change in government. There is zero chance that voting either red or blue over my lifetime will accomplish that. There is at least a small chance that by using my votes to help build long-term popular momentum for a restoration of constitutional government and respect for individual liberty, I'll help slowly turn the ship of state.

Besides, my alternative to voting for Johnson would be to abstain from voting for anybody. I can't vote for either Romney or Obama. Both of them want to continue spending us into fiscal meltdown. Both of them want to continue killing people overseas in our name. Both of them want to continue to expand the power of the executive branch. Both of them want to expand the continuous unwarranted surveillance of citizens. Both of them want to continue the insane drug war. Both of them want to continue corporate welfare. Both of them are enemies of the second amendment. Neither of them supports legalization of online poker.

All of those things are absolutely abhorrent to me, and on most of the precepts that are most important to me, they're both just completely fucking repugnant.

Since I would never vote for either of the major-party candidates anyway, how am I wasting my vote by casting it for a guy I genuinely like and support, rather than just abstaining?

11:41 PM
Anonymous said...

You cannot vote on just your principals. Haven't you seen the political ads on TV??? Both Romney and Obama are going to save the country.
/sarc

10:24 AM
MisterFred said...

Although I disagree with Grump's choices, the vote is hardly wasted. The better a showing 3rd-party candidates can make, the better the chance they can actually be elected sometime in the future.

Still a slim chance, to be sure, but there can be a purpose to voting third party if one takes the long view.

That said, Nevada is perhaps the last state I'd recommend that, given close elections in 2 or 3 of the races.

But then, it's Grump's vote.

2:06 PM
Wolynski said...

Excellent.

If Johnson is on the ballot, why is he excluded from the debates? (rhetorical question)

You say you want radical change in government and in the same breath you want a restoration of constitutional government? So which is it?



10:17 PM
Anonymous said...

Wow, you just wasted the few minutes it took to fill out this ballot and mail it. Perhaps next time you can use that time to hunt for unicorns. The U.S.A. is a two party system. Your vote won't change that... ever.

11:08 AM
Rakewell said...

Elizabeth:

I don't see any contradiction, or need to choose between your proposed alternatives. A return to a government limited in its scope by the constitution WOULD be a radical change, since most of what the federal government does now is unconstitutional.

3:57 PM

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