by James N. Clymer
Constitution Party National Chairman
Ever since I became involved in the third party movement, I’ve had to deal with the standard excuse for continuing to vote for someone who supports ideas and values with which the voter disagrees. The tired bromide goes something like this. “I really like your platform and what you stand for but I feel like I’d just be wasting my vote if I voted for you.” My comeback is: “How long do you think it will take to get the kind of government you believe in, so long as you keep voting for people who won’t support your views?”
Of course there are many good responses to the failed logic that claims you are wasting your vote by voting your convictions. Why is a vote for one who will represent nearly 100% of your values, e.g. Chuck Baldwin, but fails to get elected any more of a wasted vote than the vote for McCain who might represent 60% of your values, who also loses?
More graphically, a vote for Chuck Baldwin is less of a wasted vote than a vote for John McCain who, if he had won, would likely have promoted the same causes that Obama is pursuing and perhaps would have a more successful record in the results because the Republican faithful would be obliged to go right along with him.
Do you really believe a vote for Peroutka/Baldwin in 2004 was a wasted vote when the votes cast for George Bush made possible his rush toward a fascist economy and a tyrannical federal government and laid the perfect groundwork for Obama to finish the job?
Third party voters are discerning voters. They vote their convictions. They weigh the deeds of those competing for their vote rather than merely listening to their words. They understand that their vote is the currency of their political virtue and spend it wisely. They hold to the principle that “duty is mine; the results are in the hand of God.”
