My Vote Is NEVER Wasted

It is Tuesday, November 6, 2012, 6:15 A.M., and I have just returned from casting my ballot for Gary Johnson for President. I am filled with joy. I feel this not just because I voted for candidate whose views most closely match mine, but rather because I was mindful of, and thankful for, a most sacred right – a right many in this world may never have.

I have written before in these pages that the foundation of our government - what sets us apart – is that ours is based on the concept, established in our Constitution, of “consent of the governed”. As citizens, we give that consent via the ballot box. I gave my consent this morning, and I did so by voting for someone, and not against someone. I have many friends who tell me I wasted my vote. While I understand that Mr. Johnson will not be elected, these friends don’t seem to understand the larger point. Friends on the left tell me I may help elect Mitt Romney. I had one friend, channeling Bill Maher, accuse me of Naderism (NOTE: Ralph Nader did not cost Al Gore the election – Al Gore did that to himself by running a horrible campaign and making the mind-numbing decision to distance himself from Bill Clinton). Friends on the right tell me that voting for Johnson means I’m helping Barack Obama win re-election. This line of thinking is short-sighted Kool-Aid drinking, and is exactly the sort of thinking that keeps us locked in a two-party system where the Democratic Party is increasingly indistinguishable from the Republican Party when it lies to us about war and consistently infringes on our civil liberties.

If I am traveling in the middle of nowhere and my only meal options are McDonalds and Burger King, I am willing to choose between the lesser of two evils. I will never accept that in the voting booth. This morning, I voted with my conscience. In the words of one of my favorite philosophers, Vito Corleone, “for that I don’t apologize”. A vote made with one’s conscience is never a wasted vote.