{"id":4895,"date":"2016-07-22T10:42:41","date_gmt":"2016-07-22T15:42:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/?p=4895"},"modified":"2016-07-22T10:48:05","modified_gmt":"2016-07-22T15:48:05","slug":"why-you-should-vote-3rd-party-this-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/2016\/07\/why-you-should-vote-3rd-party-this-year\/","title":{"rendered":"Why You Should Vote 3rd Party This Year"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

If there were a morally acceptable candidate offered by either major party, of course you could vote for that person in clear conscience. \u00a0There isn\u2019t, and therefore many people are settling for choosing the least-bad candidate.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t do this.<\/p>\n

Vote third party.<\/p>\n

Why?<\/p>\n

Voting third party is the most effective way for you to bring about a change of regime.<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s more effective than a write-in campaign (barring a massive, united, nationwide campaign, which I don\u2019t see happening). \u00a0It\u2019s certainly more effective than abstaining \u2014 no one will notice you\u2019re missing, and other than a few kind souls at the League of Women Voters, no one will much care that you couldn\u2019t be bothered to show up.<\/p>\n

When you vote third party, you send a clear, unequivocal message that is formally recorded and measured. \u00a0You indicate to the major parties, and to the rest of the citizenry, which way the reform needs to go in order to field a winning candidate.<\/p>\n

Voting third party will not cause the person you cast your vote for to win. \u00a0It will, however, cause the next round of candidates, at every level of elected office, to seek to be more like what it would take to win your vote.<\/p>\n

Candidates need your vote. \u00a0They watch the polls and try to read the wind and guess which way to shift in order to ride popular opinion.<\/p>\n

By voting third party, you most clearly communicate what your expectations are and how the next cycle\u2019s candidates need to be different. \u00a0Among other benefits, voting third party informs the major parties what kinds of candidates they should support at the local and state level \u2014 which candidates feed the system for the years ahead.<\/p>\n

If you care about the future, don\u2019t settle for the sick feeling that comes from knowing that you helped fuel the victory of some person whose policies you abhor. \u00a0Vote like you mean for your republic to still be a functioning democracy ten, twenty, even two-hundred years from now.<\/p>\n

\"File:Government-Vedder-Highsmith-detail-2.jpeg\"<\/a>
By Artist is Elihu Vedder (1836\u20131923). Photographed 2007 by Carol Highsmith (1946\u2013), who explicitly placed the photograph in the public domain. [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

H\/T to Julie Davis<\/a> and Jim Curley<\/a><\/strong>, who reminded me, again, that I wanted to write on this.<\/p>\n

Julie writes<\/a>:<\/p>\n

I voted against<\/i>\u00a0in the last couple of elections and see where that got me? Supporting people I was less than crazy about while losing anyway.<\/p>\n

Bethune Catholic\u2019s comment above realigned my priorities. Yes, vote for<\/i> someone. They probably aren\u2019t perfect. After all, if you are Catholic there is no political party that is going to live up to your goals completely.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s a positive action that serves as a witness to the sort of leader I wish we had. And that\u2019s the best I can do.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Building on Jim\u2019s observations<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Why do we have legal same-sex marriage, absurd gender issues, women in combat, women poised to be required to register for the draft, continued abortion on the demand, and host of other problems, both economic, moral and financial?<\/p>\n

I could make a good case that\u00a0it is precisely because men and women of good conscience continue to vote against that conscience, election cycle after election cycle. And because of that the Republican party knows it can ignore moral and social issues and give us the likes of McCain and Romney as nominees, and now Trump. These guys lose anyway, so why not vote for someone better?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The beauty of voting 3rd party is that you don\u2019t even have to find the perfect candidate. \u00a0All you have to do is look for a candidate who\u2019s different in the way that effectively communicates the difference you\u2019d like to see.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If there were a morally acceptable candidate offered by either major party, of course you could vote for that person in clear conscience. \u00a0There isn\u2019t, and therefore many people are settling for choosing the least-bad candidate. Don\u2019t do this. Vote third party. Why? Voting third party is the most effective way for you to bring […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1209,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[418,329,162,216],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4895","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-facepalm","category-history","category-human-rights","category-its-all-catholic"],"yoast_head":"\nWhy You Should Vote 3rd Party This Year<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"If there were a morally acceptable candidate offered by either major party, of course you could vote for that person in clear conscience. \u00a0There isn't,\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/2016\/07\/why-you-should-vote-3rd-party-this-year\/\" \/>\n<meta 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