September 10, 2012
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The Wasted Vote Question
The Wasted Vote Question
by Jay Vandersloot
[Originally appeared in the May 2006 issue of New Mexico Liberty]Election time is fast approaching. The LPNM has already nominated some state-wide candidates, some of the county affiliates have nominated candidates for local races, and other county affiliates may be nominating yet other local candidates.
While there are numerous questions our candidates will be asked, there is one question that is almost always asked of Libertarian candidates. The person asking the question states the belief that there is no chance the Libertarian candidate will be elected, and asks why they should “waste” their votes on candidates they do not believe have any chance of being elected, when they can make their vote count by voting for one of the two major party candidates. Usually it is also stated that they are planning to cast their vote based on the “lesser of two evils” concept. Usually, the Libertarian answers that if you vote for the lesser of two evils, you are still left with evil. Both the voter’s view and the Libertarian’s reply ignore a very important element of what happens in elections – something that I refer to as the “Mandate From the People Syndrome.”
Even though voters cast their ballots based on which candidates they believe will be less harmful, the candidates who are elected do not know, and do not care, how many voters voted for them, and how many actually voted against their opponents. All they see is the percentage of the vote they received and say, “I have a MANDATE from the people.”
In effect, the voice of the person voting for the “lesser of two evils” is not heard. The elected candidate does not know that you are unhappy with his or her political positions. In actuality, the vote for the “lesser of two evils” is the TRUE wasted vote.
Instead of voting for the “lesser of two evils,” the voter should vote for the candidate who has the principles and political views in which the voter believes. By doing so, even though that candidate may not be elected, the voice of the voter is heard, because the candidates who are elected see that they do not have the “mandate from the people” that they would otherwise have thought they had. They will see that part of their constituency is dissatisfied with their politics, and that they must change if they want to have any hope of gaining those votes in the future.
Our 40th U.S. President, Ronald Reagan (I know many Libertarians are not happy with his presidency, but the quote applies), is credited with having said, “I do not care who gets the credit for doing something, so long as it gets done.” Well, I do not care what political party name the elected officials wears (for example, Ron Paul of Texas is elected as a Republican, but his votes in Congress are based on Libertarian principles), so long as they enact needed laws that are in compliance with the US Constitution and our rights therein delineated, and more importantly, get rid of laws that violate the U.S. Constitution and are an affront to the us and our rights and diminish liberty.
In reality, though, we see over and over that we cannot depend on the Republican and Democratic party elected officials to do what is right and needs to be done, as we see that they both perpetuate Big government and continually pass laws that violate the US Constitution and our rights, and hinder the cause of liberty. If we are to advance the cause of liberty, we will have to do it ourselves, by getting Libertarians elected to office.
Therefore, we find that it is incumbent upon all of us to expose fallacy of the common wasted-vote syndrome beliefs by showing our family, friends, neighbors, co-workers, and anyone else with whom we come into contact that their vote for the Libertarian candidate is the only vote that really counts. Only by voting for the Libertarian candidate will their voice truly be heard by whoever is elected.
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