The election season is ramping up and results from state primaries are already rolling in. Obama, er, I mean Romney has won straw polls in both Iowa and New Hampshire, which has ramped up the “Ron Paul can’t win” bandwagon. Many people, especially in the gun community, are now talking about voting for the lesser of two evils to ensure Obama gets tossed out of office.
I’ll start by stating up front that I’m not big on the whole voting for a ruler thing. In fact this picture sums up my belief on voting:
As a sovereign individual I see no need for rulers and have no desire to choose one. If I’m going to get fucked with a switchblade why do I care who is holding it? It’s going to hurt just as much if Romney is holding the switchblade as it will if Obama is holding it. With that said I also realize that we’re currently stuck with manor lords so I may have to play the game to help ensure I get the “less” shitty ruler. Realizing this who do you think I’ll vote for if Romney gets the nomination?
Simply put, I won’t.
OK if Ron Paul decides to run as a third-party candidate I’ll toss him a vote and if he doesn’t I may still go to put in a vote for Gary Johnson. Either way I won’t be voting for Romney or Obama because I refuse to support either of them. No matter which of those tyrants wins we’re all going to lose. Many people are saying they will vote for whoever gets the Republican nomination because we need to get rid of Obama. What’s the point if voting for either major party gets us Obama though? Romney isn’t Obama light, he’s white Obama. The only thing that really separates the two is the fact Romney is white, a mormon, and has political experience (something I don’t believe to be a good thing by the way).
When you vote you’re making a suggestion. Your ballot should read, “The names I’ve checked below are the individuals I suggest be granted the power to run my life and initiate violence against me should I violate one of their decrees.” The reason I’m willing to suggest Ron Paul is because he has no desire to run my life or initiate violence against me. Romney on the other hand not only wishes to run my life but he also desires to initiated violence against me and people in other countries. Fuck that guy, I’m not suggesting he be put in charge of anything, especially a military.
Many people will claim I’m part of the problem because by not suggesting Romney I’m automatically suggesting Obama. It doesn’t work that way. That logic assumes my vote is cast whether or not I actually check a box next to somebody’s name. According to these people were the vote count 100 for Romney and 100 for Obama my lack of a vote would mean 101 of Obama. See how that math doesn’t work? By not voting for Obama his count still remains at a solid 100. Hell in the grand scheme of things my vote doesn’t matter anyways so feel free not to blame me if Obama wins.
When you vote for the “lesser” of two evils you’re still stuck with evil. If you want to suggest Romney to run your life by all means go to your polling place and vote for him. While I refuse to suggest him I won’t demand you do the same but I do ask that you not scream at me for “voting for Obama” or “being part of the problem.” If you do that I’m going to scream back at you for “voting for white Obama” and “being part of the problem.”
In the end if either Romney or Obama becomes president I’ll just kick back, relax, and say, “Don’t blame me, I didn’t vote for him.”
Well if it comes down to Romney vs Obama I will show up and vote Libertarian. It preserves our ballot access in Texas and if enough people would vote “None of the above” at some point people running might want to go after those voters. If you stay home they can argue that you are apathetic and wouldn’t have voted anyway. But if you go through all the work to show up to vote and say F you I am not voting for either of the establishment candidates as there is no difference then they can see that you are a motivated voter unhappy with the choices presented. Granted this only works if enough people did the same, but I think it is more useful than not voting. That is one area I disagree with some libertarians on where they say they are a principled non-voter, while your vote may not change things (and generally doesn’t) if you don’t vote you get fucked as well, so I would rather show up and say none of the above. I won’t be labeled as too lazy to vote or the typical person that doesn’t care. I care and refuse to cast a ballot for a statist bastard.