by Joshua Zambrano

Created on: November 13, 2008

Regretfully, many fall back on the common excuse, 'Voting for a candidate who can't win is the same as voting for no one at all.' But it's not. If everyone in this country voted their conscience, we wouldn't HAVE the infamously bad two-party system that everyone rails against!

I maintain that it is better to vote for the candidate who is best than one who has a chance of winning. As General George Patton once said, "If a man does his best, what else is there?" You see, we are not responsible for who wins or loses. We are simply responsible for doing our best every day, and trusting that others will do the same. And, it's the only way we can live with ourselves afterward.

After I decided to vote for Bob Barr instead of John McCain in the last election, I had some of his supporters telling me that voting for a candidate who couldn't win was the same as voting for his opponent, Barack Obama. I compared that to choosing not to kill an innocent person, even though to do so would appease the will of someone who will otherwise destroy the world.

In the end, all one can do is what one believes is right. If others do what is wrong (such as voting for the wrong candidate), the consequences fall on their own heads. I am responsible for simply doing what is right and best. I do not believe in voting for 'the lesser of 2 evils'. If one can not vote for a good candidate, than maybe it is best to not vote at all.

Many would have said Bush was the lesser evil between him and John Kerry. After all, Kerry said he would do all he could to remove pro-life judges from the courts and appoint in their stead pro-choice judges. And as such, many voted accordingly. I did not. I voted for Michael Peroutka of the Constitution Party.

My point is, who is to say which of the 2 evils would have turned out better? All we can do is make sure to the best of our ability that we are not supporting an evil at all! Choose the best possible candidate, even if they are a 3rd-party candidate or an independent. Your choice may inspire others to slowly create the change which will turn things around.

If everyone in the world simply sought to do what they knew was best, this world would be a much better place.

Supporting a 3rd-party candidate can mean their names on the ballot in future elections, or increased publicity from the media. It can mean growth of grass-roots movements that further the chances of people hearing about them. In short, it can be the difference in breaking this two-party system!

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