for those of us who are going to cast a principled vote for a candidate of a minor party whom we judge to be worthy of occupying the office of the presidency
Perhaps I've missed something along the way but just who are these minor party candidates you and others deem worthy of occupying the white house?
Perhaps I was not as clear as I should have been Greger. When I wrote, and this is the complete clause, "but for those of us who may not be willing to enfranchise either major party's candidate with the temporary authority to wield power as a result of our vote, or for those of us who are going to cast a principled vote for a candidate of a minor party whom we judge to be worthy of occupying the office of the presidency, expect us to exercise our Right to be critical of both the utterly corrupt Democratic and the utterly corrupt Republican parties, if for no other reason than it being entertainment of a sort in an otherwise dismal decade.", I was refering to those of us who would be either not voting at all, or would be voting for a minor party candidate. I did not mean to indicate that I had a third party candidate in mind this go-around. If Ron Paul were to get the Repub nomination (and live to see the next day) I would quite happily vote for him.
Other than that, and once again for the record, there are, in my opinion, three principled actions a Citizen can take on election day
1. One can vote party-line for a Party that adhers to its stated principles and character.
2. One can vote for an individual candidate who represents the character and principles one thinks are most supportive of one's vision of what America is -- or should be.
3. One can exercise one's responsibility as a citizen and refuse to enfranchise any current candidate with the temporary priviledge of exercising power with one's consent if all are unprincipled and unworthy candidates -- assuming one thinks that legitimate power originates with the individual citizen.
And please note, in refusing to vote for a supposedly lesser evil in opposition to a supposedly greater evil, one does not forfeit one's right to be critical of the one that eventual ascends to the throne.
This is usually referred to by those who wish to energize their party base as "throwing your vote away", telling you each time that "this election is too important to allow principle to stand in the way -- we'll make it up to you next time. Be patient".
How many voters still think they they will eventually catch up to that Democratic/Republican carrot?:-)
Yours,
Issodhos
