Did you know there are other choices?

I haven’t had much to say about the upcoming election, mostly because I decided who I was going to vote for two years ago, and my mind hasn’t changed much since then. That’s right, I decided who I was going to vote for two years ago.

You see, after the divisive years of the Bush administration, and especially after the disastrous past two years of the Obama administration, I’ve come to realize that the problem with our government and the politics that runs it is that it is stagnant beyond recovery. While there may be superficial differences in the platforms of the two parties of power, their sameness can easily be measured in what they do once they are in power. Democrats and Republicans are what is wrong with this country, and will still be the problem when the Republicans take control of at least the House in November.

The problem is that the American people, whom those Democrats and Republicans claim to serve, have delegated their right to have a real say in what goes on in government and politics a long time ago, and once delegated, rights are hard to get back. That is, unless we find another way.

Two years ago, I finally admitted to myself that I am a fundamental classical anarchist but that I understand the need for government for the masses of people who cannot handle that kind of responsibility and power. Those two thoughts make me a functional libertarian, although I find all sorts of problems with the party that claims the name. Nevertheless, I realized that continuing to vote for Republicans, whose conservative credentials and actions in the government are a sham, is the height of hypocrisy for me.

Hence the reason that, despite some of my misgivings, I will vote for Libertarian candidates in this election. I do not vote for these candidates because I necessarily support their ideologies but because their ideologies would add an additional element of complexity to the function of Congress and would force the Democrats and the Republicans to deal with something other than their own agendas.

Of course, at least where I live, none of the Libertarian candidates have much of a chance to win, so my opinion doesn’t matter much right now. Yet, it is my hope that I will convince others by voting on a principle of choosing another way, and if I do, that conviction could make all the difference in the world.

DLH

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3 Responses to Did you know there are other choices?

  1. didymus 53 says:

    You’re spot on about the Rhino parties and their tired old regurgitated candidates. I don’t like parties in general as I prefer to vote for individuals who think for themselves. But, maybe you could be a little flexible. What about the Constitution candidates? I think they are a bit more balanced and less scary than labeled Libertarians who strike me as more narrow-minded and a bit radical themselves.

    • dlhitzeman says:

      My goal in voting Libertarian isn’t so much to get them elected as it is to get people to vote for other parties beside the (D)s and (R)s. Right now, the only third parties that have any chance of winning elections are probably the Libertarians and the Greens.

      While I tend to agree with a lot of positions held by Constitution party candidates, voting for them will not really increase their chances of winning relative to the two big parties, and right now we need a rebalancing of power in Congress more than we need specific victories.

      Imagine what would happen if there were just one or two Libertarians in the Senate or a dozen of them in the House. The change in the political dynamic in how laws are made and money is spent would be spectacular. And, once we prove to the American people that another party can win, then I think the floodgates get opened.

  2. dlhitzeman says:

    It also occurs to me that part of the problem with the way most people vote today is that they are voting in an attempt to legislate morality. Many people are uncomfortable with voting for Libertarians, as an example, because the party platform does not contain specific morality points as part of what they say they will do if they are in power.

    What morality voters fail to realize is that the law has never changed anyone’s heart. If morality voters want to change the way Americans behave, they have to change how Americans think and what they believe rather than making what they think and what they believe illegal. Using the law to enforce morality is dictatorship no matter how well intended it might be.

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