mark-t's Journal: Just a few words about voting...

Try to remember, before voting, that if the biggest reason you have to *NOT* vote for a particular representative is only because you feel you'd be throwing away your vote, and considering the fact that's the most significant reason that people do not vote for a lesser known candidate or independent, it's worth noting that if everybody who thought this way actually voted instead for who they would have voted for if they believed that they had a chance in hell of winning an election, they'd find that their so-called chance in hell might just actually be realized.

If you believe that the only way to prevent somebody that you do not like from getting into power after the election that you feel you must always strategically vote against them by voting for another candidate whose views aren't really any more representative of your own (but perhaps are just the "lesser of two evils"), then I believe that one of two things is happening.

1. You lack confidence in a democratic voting system to adequately represent the views of its population, or else believe that not enough people share the same values as you to make a difference. The former is only true when people don't vote in a manner consistent with their actual views (which is exactly what you'd be doing if the only reason you had to vote for "the other guy" was because you didn't want his opponent to win), and if the latter were genuinely true, then your vote would also not be able to make a difference either.

2. You are afraid of being wrong... or different.

Vote for the representative that most closely matches your own values and views. It's entirely possible that they may not have a hope in hell of winning any election, but at least if you do that, then at least you've tried to take a stand for what you value. Otherwise, you're just selling yourself out... for nothing that amounts to any *really* good reason.