Comment Re:Isn't parody protected in the US? (Score 1) 169
This is the reason I don't vote.
I'm very saddened to hear that
... why throw away your vote? Vote for an independent, instead.
I've got to agree. A lot of people think that not voting for the Democrat or Republican is "throwing your vote away" because that third party candidate has a zero chance of winning. I do agree with the latter portion of the statement: Third party candidates, for the most part, don't have much chance of winning. However, this is *because* people vote for D or R (or don't vote at all) instead of voting for a third party candidate. It's a bit of a chicken and egg problem. People won't vote for a non-major party candidate unless they have a realistic shot at winning, but they won't have a realistic shot at winning unless people vote for them.
Why vote third party then? To send a message. If a third party candidate gets a large enough portion of the votes, the major parties will take notice and will rush to coopt the issue as their own. They aren't stupid. If there's a groundswell of support for an issue, they'll tumble over themselves embracing it. In essence, voting third party can change the two major parties.
Why not simply withhold your vote? Because not voting sends no message at all. You might think it's a grand gesture at the politicians but it's a gesture the politicians can't see. How do you tell the difference between "I'm protesting the two major parties" and "I just don't care enough about any issue to go out and vote"?