Don’t Not Vote

I’m in danger of falling below my quota of political topics, so I need to post something related to the election.

Please vote for president this November.

But do not vote for Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump. I’m voting for Gary Johnson.

Some people have expressed their plan to not vote (I split that infinitive on purpose) because they are unhappy with both candidates. But there are more than two candidates!

Not voting because you don’t like the candidates is the best way to ensure you will be unhappy. Because the only way someone other than those two can get in to the White House is if people vote for someone other than those two candidates.

I’m not a fan of Gary Johnson, and I’m voting for him with the hope that he will not win. More on that later.

I’ve noticed there are two schools of thought regarding how to prevent Hillary Clinton from being elected. My parents’ generation (if you’re the type who likes labels, you can put them in the Baby Boomer category) seems to be locked into the 2-party system and they are voting for Trump because he’s not Clinton. My generation (X) doesn’t follow that thought and is considering options outside the democrat/republican duopoly.

I can’t, in good conscience, vote for Trump. And I can’t, for the sake of humanity, vote for Clinton. The way I see it, we need a third-party candidate to take enough votes to cause nobody to win the election.

And that’s my point of this post – to get enough people to vote for Johnson. Not so that he will become president, but rather that he will win some electoral college votes and allow the congress to pick someone reasonable.

And, in the off chance that I and my compatriots are successful beyond expectation and Johnson somehow wins the presidency outright, then I still think that is less of a risk than either of the main two candidates winning it.

There’s my 2 cents.

Now then, listen to their voice; however, you shall solemnly warn them and tell them of the procedure of the king who will reign over them.

1 Samuel 8:9

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This little article thingy was written by Some Guy sometime around 6:48 am and has been carefully placed in the Current Events category.

3 Responses to “Don’t Not Vote”

  1. Buckley Says:

    I’m also voting Johnson for this exact reason. My parents are voting for Trump, but it’s only out of party loyalty. My mom especially is a one-issue voter (abortion).

  2. Jake Says:

    This is a great post, and I really appreciate it. However, I’m pretty sure that if no one reaches 270 electoral votes, the House has to pick a president from among the top three finishers in the electoral college. So the hope that they “pick someone reasonable” is a hope that they’ll pick Johnson (assuming you consider him “reasonable,” and assuming that he comes in third). If I’m right in my understanding, and I may not be, then your vote for Johnson will have to be with the hope that he WILL win.

    Consider Evan McMullin?

  3. Some Guy Says:

    You’re right, I thought at the time I wrote the post that the House would have a wider range of candidates. So a vote for Johnson really is a vote for Johnson (or Trump, depending on the representatives and the party line). I would prefer Evan McMullin over the other three, but he’s a write-in candidate, so I don’t see that he’ll be able to take my state. Long story short: my main voting goal is to see not Hillary and not Trump elected.

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