← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · Happy Hacker
Thread ID: 15213 | Posts: 4 | Started: 2004-10-04
2004-10-04 18:17 | User Profile
Some of you are going to vote for what you think is the lessor of two evils, Bush or Gore. And, both will get votes from members of this forum. Some of you are going to vote for the lessor of three evils and vote for Nader. Some of you are going to vote for the best of all the candidates and vote for the Constitution Party candidate, Michael Peroutka.
If you vote for Bush, your vote will not be seen as a protest against Kerry. It will be seen as a vote for Israel, wars of aggression, and plutocracy.
If you vote for Kerry, your vote will not be seen as a protest against Bush. It will be seen as a vote for homosexuals and racial discrimination against whites.
If you vote for either Bush or Kerry, you will be giving your stamp of approval to the two-party system that the Republicans and Democrats have worked so hard to create. And, your vote will be seen as a vote for massive third-world immigration and bigger government.
You can vote for Nader, but he has no chance of winning. Your vote might be seen as a protest vote or it might be seen as a vote for policies to the left of the Democrats. Nader stands for abortion, homosexuality, easier voter registration, more money for public schools, etc.
You can vote for Peroutka, but he has no chance of winning. Your vote might be seen as a protest vote or it might be seen as a vote for smaller government, secure borders, ending federal hostility to Christianity, etc.
Whoever you vote for, it will have absolutely zero affect on who wins. So, the idea of voting for the lessor of two evils is silly, especially when they're both so evil (this situation is a result of voters faithfully voting for the lessor of two evils for decades). Even the idea of sending a message is pretty weak. If you bother to vote, you'd only be voting for the principle of democracy. And, if you're voting on principle, you'll vote for Peroutka.
If you want to feel good about who you voted for, you won't be voting for Bush or Kerry. Your vote is all about you, not about who will win.
2004-10-04 21:30 | User Profile
Happy,
I agree with what you have written. I'd add this just to go into more detail. If enough people vote for Peroutka it might send a message to some of the so-called "leaders" of the "stupid party" that there are a hell of a lot of us that are damn tired of having served up to us bottom of the barrel candidates for office. I know that these people are whores, but they do value their jobs. Cheney is a prime example. By ACU and John Birch Society standards he had a perfect voting record when he was a congressman from Wyoming. Now that he isn't a congressman anymore we can see what a cheap opportunist that he really is- the Republicans' version of LBJ. The only reason he voted as he did in congress was that he knew the voters there would throw him out if he did otherwise.
2004-10-05 03:15 | User Profile
[QUOTE=Happy Hacker]Your vote is all about you, not about who will win.[/QUOTE]
I very strongly agree with this final sentence. When I vote (and I always do, of course), I do it for myself, not for them. As it so happens, now that I have been stripped of what is reasonably described as my right to vote for Ralph Nader, I will almost certainly be pulling the lever for Michael Peroutka. For that matter, I should get some Peroutka-for-President bumperstickers. My two Ralph Nader stickers aren't doing much good anymore....
2004-10-05 03:21 | User Profile
[QUOTE=Sertorius]I know that these people are whores, but they do value their jobs. Cheney is a prime example. By ACU and John Birch Society standards he had a perfect voting record when he was a congressman from Wyoming. Now that he isn't a congressman anymore we can see what a cheap opportunist that he really is- the Republicans' version of LBJ. The only reason he voted as he did in congress was that he knew the voters there would throw him out if he did otherwise.[/QUOTE]
And just think, four years ago, Bush's selection of Cheney heartened me with the notion that perhaps Bush truly did intend to run and govern as a conservative (precisely as it was intended to do). Fortunately, I was not so mollified as to deny my vote to Buchanan....I still kid my wife about how Bush duped her into voting for him.
On the even-still-lighter side, a few months ago, my mother was not at all pleased by my outspoken criticism of President Bush and the war in Iraq (and didn't seem to understand the distinction between Palestinian suicide nombers in Jerusalem and those who actually attack OUR country, I'm sorry to say). Now, she's calling Iraq "another Vietnam," and intends to vote for Kerry (and she lives in the "swing state" of Nevada).