I upset someone on Facebook today.  His name is Stoffer.  He posted this message:

"I voted for Bob Barr."

I posted a comment on his message:

"How embarrassing."

To which he promptly replied that he did not care to hear about my political views and that I should, in fact, go fuck myself.

Fair enough.  I would argue that if he didn't want to hear mine he shouldn't show me his, but I'm not here to pick on Stoffer.  But it is embarrassing.  I'd rather stand up in a crowded room and announce that I'd just peed myself than say I'd voted for a third party candidate.

The election of 2000 was the death of the third party candidacy as a viable option.  No longer was it acceptable to vote your conscience.  No, that's wrong.  What I really mean is, nobody's conscience should tell them to vote for a third party candidate.  Voting for a third party candidate is to vote without voting, without consequence.  It is to say, I will not take any responsibility for the outcome of this election.   It is the easy way out. It is compromise that is difficult.

Voting is, by necessity, a reductive act.  It eliminates all nuance.  You may be an analog person, but voting is digital. 1 or 0.  On or off. Republican or Democrat. 

I do not claim to agree with every policy position of Barack Obama.  I'll give you an example: I find his support of "Clean Coal" to be pandering to states with large coal mining industries where he needs votes.  That doesn't mean I'm going to vote for the Green Party candidate, even if they are opposed to Clean Coal technology.  I don't know if they are or not - I haven't bothered to look it up.  It is a waste of time. 

I accept my decision as compromised, as many decisions are.  There are times where it is honorable and courageous to be principled and take a stand, and to refuse to compromise.   I refuse to eat at Friendly's.  I will not compromise on this issue.  But when you step into the voting booth, voting for a third party candidate does not feel like a courageous and principled stand.  It feels like a cop-out. 

But it can be worse than a cop-out.  Back to the 2000 election.  Al Gore defeated by George W. Bush, with Ralph Nader scooping up 5% of the vote.  It is not going out on a limb to state that, if it was a binary decision, 9 out of 10 Nader voters would have gone to Al Gore.  So, too, would the election.  And if 9 out of 10 Nader voters preferred Al Gore to George Bush, then their principled stand against the two-party system only served to hurt them. 

So fight for your principles.  Write letters, donate time and money to charities, and try to influence your peers.  But when you step into the voting booth, don't be a jackass. Don't pee on yourself.  Democrat or Republican.  1 or 0.  Make a choice that matters.