So you think you’re “wasting your vote”?
Perhaps no force in America’s democratic election process serves more to keep Big Government big than the “wasted vote” argument.
Most elections — with the help of the mainstream media, ballot access laws, campaign regulations, and taxpayer-funded subsidies of politicians and political parties — are neatly organized into a two-way race between a Big Government Democrat and a Big Government Republican.
This Big Government 2-party dominance is so pervasive that many Americans believe that independent and third party candidates “don’t count” because they can’t “win.”
As a result, many people argue that we must vote for the “lesser of two evils.” This argument is used by both self-serving Democrat and Republican politicians (and their advocates) as well as by well-meaning voters who abhor Big Government and who actually want small government. They have bought into the idea that they must support a candidate who can win and that government has gotten so big and so bad, all we can hope for is to minimize the damage.
Almost always, the only small government candidates on a general election ballot are independents or third parties. On rare occasion a bona fide small government candidate runs on a Democrat or Republican ticket. However, they usually lose in the primary.
That’s how things stand today — unless you help to change it.
(Important note: Never assume any candidate is for small government. Most are for Big Government. You can discern them by learning how to apply the Weight Watchers Test for Big Government.)
Readers of Small Government News, the official newsletter of the Center For Small Government, submitted these explanations for why those who want small government have nothing to gain by voting for the lesser of two evils.
