![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Politics Again
Jan. 28th, 2012 09:16 pmI just finished up reading a political blog (http://hackwithablog.blogspot.com/) that I enjoy and it got me thinking a bit about my own beliefs with politics here in the States. One of the first things that comes to mind is part of a lyric from a political song Sam likes. It goes something like "elephants and asses controlling the masses." The reason that comes to mind is because I think the two-party system is one of the most crippling things about politics in the US. People think they have no other choice and so they vote for the "lesser of two evils." I've heard people use those specific words more than once for several different elections over the years. Some people don't even vote at all because of this system. Worse than that, there's a trench that's been dug that third party candidates can't get out of, and that trench is the idea that you're throwing away your vote if you give it to them. Despite most folks I know being tired of the way things are being run now, they're still going to vote for a Republican or a Democrat because otherwise they feel like their vote doesn't count. I can't vote (I'm not a citizen), so I'll relay something that happened to Sam (hope she doesn't mind). While at a very Liberal church politics came up. This was during the 2008 Presidential Election. When asked if she was voting for Obama, Sam said no. Immediately the person she was talking to made an outraged face and complained: "how could you vote for McCain!?" Sam wasn't voting for McCain. She said she was actually voting for a third party candidate (whom this other person had never heard of) and was promptly asked, "why would you throw away your vote like that?"
That is why the two-party system is so dangerous. It's perpetuated itself. As this upcoming election takes shape I'm finding that none of the Republican candidates really have anything to offer. Having said that, I wouldn't vote for Obama either. I would put the vote toward a Libertarian candidate, Gary Johnson (http://www.garyjohnson2012.com/) He was originally running as a Republican but was edged out of the debates and not supported by his party when he asked for their help. Seems to me that had he had support from the Republican party he probably would have stood a better chance of winning than he does now having moved over. That's not because his beliefs have changed, they haven't, but people would have recognized the main party line.
Of course there are those who might say that it shouldn't matter to me, I can't vote anyway. I do plan on becoming an American citizen (which is expensive as hell by the way), and when I do I'll sure as heck be informed about who I give my vote to.
That is why the two-party system is so dangerous. It's perpetuated itself. As this upcoming election takes shape I'm finding that none of the Republican candidates really have anything to offer. Having said that, I wouldn't vote for Obama either. I would put the vote toward a Libertarian candidate, Gary Johnson (http://www.garyjohnson2012.com/) He was originally running as a Republican but was edged out of the debates and not supported by his party when he asked for their help. Seems to me that had he had support from the Republican party he probably would have stood a better chance of winning than he does now having moved over. That's not because his beliefs have changed, they haven't, but people would have recognized the main party line.
Of course there are those who might say that it shouldn't matter to me, I can't vote anyway. I do plan on becoming an American citizen (which is expensive as hell by the way), and when I do I'll sure as heck be informed about who I give my vote to.
