What a Waste! I

Trey Smith

A disturbing number of Americans are going to end up wasting their votes in this next election. They’re unhappy with the status quo, but instead of changing it, they’re only going to reinforce it. I’m not talking about democrats who are so unhappy with Obama that they’re planning to vote third-party. I’m talking about democrats who are unhappy with Obama, but who are so afraid of Romney that they’re going to vote for Obama anyway and justify that vote by invoking “the lesser of the two evils” argument. It’s about time someone pointed out that it’s the invocation of that argument to defend otherwise indefensible political choices that has driven us relentlessly into our current position between a rock and a hard place.

Albert Einstein is reputed to have said that the greatest invention in human history was compound interest. I beg to differ. I think it’s the “lesser of two evils” argument. It’s brilliant. Give people two options, neither of which they find appealing, convince them that a third option, a genuinely attractive one, is just not practicable and that they must thus choose between the bad and the worse, and you’ll be able to get them to choose something they would never otherwise choose.

You can get people to do anything that way. You start by offering them a choice between something that is just marginally unpleasant and something that is really repellent. Once you’ve gotten them to choose the marginally unpleasant, you raise the bar (just a little mind you, you don’t want them to catch on to what you’re doing). Now you offer them a choice between something to which they have really strong objections and something that is deeply offensive. Most people, of course, will choose the former, if they think it’s either that or the latter. Now you offer people who’ve become inured to living under objectionable conditions a choice between even worse conditions and something that is truly unthinkable. It’s not mystery what they will choose.
~ from On Wasting Your Vote by M. G. Piety ~

As I have done with other articles before, I'm going to utilize this fine column as the fodder for my posts today. I'll share a few paragraphs, then offer some comments, until we reach the end.

While partisans and the mainstream media will tell you that this year's presidential election is the most critical one in history, we're told that same thing EVERY four years. As I have tried to show over the past 6 weeks or so, I don't think this particular race is all that critical because the two candidates who have any chance of winning hold similar views on issue after issue.

In order for this race to be critical, voters would need to have two candidates who represented divergent points of view. Since there is little substantive difference between the incumbent and the challenger, the next presidential administration won't be that much different, regardless of which one wins first prize. It simply will be a continuation of same old same old.

If you like the direction our nation is headed, then flip a coin to decide which one to vote for. If you don't like the direction this nation is headed, then vote third party or, like me, refuse to vote.