As was expressed here, I am interested in the delicate act of protest voting and wanted to advise all of my friends on the right who could not bring themselves to vote for John McCain. Of the candidates that have a shot in this election John McCain is by far the least bad, I support him and think there are plenty of reasons you should too. If McCain is either clearly going to win or clearly going to lose Delaware and my presidential vote wouldn’t make a difference anyway I may vote third party. Out of curiosity I also wanted to see who else was out there. Right now, this is the field;
Libertarians – The most promising place for my vote right now, the Libertarians emerged from their convention having nominated a Barr/Root ticket. I really like the looks of Barr and I’m glad to see that Root has clearly specified he does not believe abortion is a federal issue. I’d still like to know more about Barr, particularly where he stands on illegal immigration but he has a pretty solid record from Congress. Right now this is probably where my protest vote is going.
Constitutionalists – Nominated a fellow named Chuck Baldwin. Don’t know too much about Chuck but it looks like he would be a solid anti-illegal immigration, lower-taxes, shrink the government vote if Barr doesn’t pan out for some reason.
Prohibitionists – When you’ve finally had enough of politics. Not sure if they’ll be on the ballot in Delaware.
Ralph Nader – got 2,000 votes from DE in 2004, he’ll probably be on the ballot again this year.
Greens – seem set to nominate Cynthia McKinney, she may very well be to the left of Arden.
Mike Gravel! – Alas, the dream has died. After finishing fourth at the Libertarian National Convention Gravel does not appear to be further pursuing a presidential run.
There are a couple other Third Parties but it is unlikely they will make it onto the ballot in Delaware. Nationwide, if you’ve got a problem with McCain send a clear message to Republican leadership with a vote for Barr or Baldwin.
Showing posts with label Shopping for a Third Party Candidate in 08. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Shopping for a Third Party Candidate in 08. Show all posts
Sunday, June 1, 2008
Sunday, April 6, 2008
Shopping for a Third Party Candidate in 08 - Part I.
There are only really 3 people who have a chance at claiming our nation's presidency, and of those people John McCain is far and away the best, I pray he wins and I'll probably be voting for him.
I say probably because if it looks like McCain is either clearly going to win, or clearly not going to win Delaware I'm going to throw up the protest vote. I like McCain but I am weary of him on some issues, particularly illegal immigration and I think it is not illogical to fear that McCain could shift the Republican party a few notches to the left. But protest voting is tricky - people have to understand that it is protest.
Some of my more conservative friends have suggested that we all need to vote for the democrats in 2008 to show the Republican party that we're not happy with their moderate candidates. I think that's silly - how do we expect the Republican party is going to get that message? Are they going to look at a Hillary win and say "Wow! The conservative voter is disgruntled with us and voted for the opposition out of spite, we'd better select more conservative candidates"? No, they're going to say "Wow! People really like Hillary".
I did a little shopping (mind you, it was on wikipedia) to look for a third party candidate that would send the message I want to send ("hey Republican party, I'm still open to voting for you but in the future put up someone who is a little more libertarian and will enforce our immigration laws") and I think I found a decent one. Out of the Libertarian Party we have Wayne Allyn Root - reduced government spending, increased personal liberties and responsibilities, strong international stance though weak on social issues like abortion.
There are also a few other decent candidates up for the Libertarian primary, as well as up for the Constitution Party and as a last option I've got the Prohibition Party. Under no circumstances will I be voting for either of the democrats or any of the Greens, Communists or Socialists.
So to recap - of the realistic options on the table I'm backing McCain and will only vote third party if the margins are far enough away that a vote for McCain will be pointless. If you plan on a protest vote against McCain for motivations similar to mine I ask that rather than just voting for the dem you vote for a candidate like Root who will send a relatively clear and productive message to the GOP.
On a related note - Mike Gravel is running for the Libertarian Party's nomination, and while that isn't funny his campaign ad is - http://youtube.com/watch?v=bA2LgJviH9w
I hope all the crazies vote for him
I say probably because if it looks like McCain is either clearly going to win, or clearly not going to win Delaware I'm going to throw up the protest vote. I like McCain but I am weary of him on some issues, particularly illegal immigration and I think it is not illogical to fear that McCain could shift the Republican party a few notches to the left. But protest voting is tricky - people have to understand that it is protest.
Some of my more conservative friends have suggested that we all need to vote for the democrats in 2008 to show the Republican party that we're not happy with their moderate candidates. I think that's silly - how do we expect the Republican party is going to get that message? Are they going to look at a Hillary win and say "Wow! The conservative voter is disgruntled with us and voted for the opposition out of spite, we'd better select more conservative candidates"? No, they're going to say "Wow! People really like Hillary".
I did a little shopping (mind you, it was on wikipedia) to look for a third party candidate that would send the message I want to send ("hey Republican party, I'm still open to voting for you but in the future put up someone who is a little more libertarian and will enforce our immigration laws") and I think I found a decent one. Out of the Libertarian Party we have Wayne Allyn Root - reduced government spending, increased personal liberties and responsibilities, strong international stance though weak on social issues like abortion.
There are also a few other decent candidates up for the Libertarian primary, as well as up for the Constitution Party and as a last option I've got the Prohibition Party. Under no circumstances will I be voting for either of the democrats or any of the Greens, Communists or Socialists.
So to recap - of the realistic options on the table I'm backing McCain and will only vote third party if the margins are far enough away that a vote for McCain will be pointless. If you plan on a protest vote against McCain for motivations similar to mine I ask that rather than just voting for the dem you vote for a candidate like Root who will send a relatively clear and productive message to the GOP.
On a related note - Mike Gravel is running for the Libertarian Party's nomination, and while that isn't funny his campaign ad is - http://youtube.com/watch?v=bA2LgJviH9w
I hope all the crazies vote for him
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)