With yet another election around the corner I am once more seeing people posting about how if people vote Libertarian it will allow the wrong people to win the election. Well I’ve held my nose and voted “strategically” for years and that hasn’t worked out too well. That’s not terribly surprising when you remember that when you vote for the lesser of two evils you still vote for evil. So these days when it comes to voting for non-Libertarian candidates I have some criteria.
- If your party has passed ballot access laws to make it difficult for third party candidates to get on the ballot, I will not vote for your party.
- If your party has filed lawsuits to keep third party candidates off of the ballot I will not vote for your party.
- If your party has worked to keep third party candidates off of the ballot while attacking another party for disenfranchising voters I will not vote for your party.
- If your candidate refuses to engage third party candidates in public debate even when one of those candidates is polling well enough to affect the outcome of the election I will not vote for your candidate.
- If your party has recently told a significant portion of its own base to sit down and shut up I will not vote for your party.
- If your party is unwilling to meet me half way by adopting at least some Libertarian positions I will not vote for your party.
- If the best argument your party can present to convince me to vote for them is that they suck slightly less than the other party, I will not vote for your party.
- If your party tries to browbeat me into voting for your party, I will not vote for your party.
The major parties make a big deal over the importance of nominating “electable” candidates. By “electable” they mean politicians willing to compromise party ideals on issues in order to attract voters who will not otherwise vote for the party. If the major parties are unwilling to adopt parts of the Libertarian platform to win votes then obviously they don’t really believe they need Libertarian votes so why should I vote for them?