I Pass

I have the vague feeling that I've written this already, but I can't find it among previous essays so I'll try again. I can think of three plausible explanations for this problem: the first is that I never wrote it. Perhaps I painstakingly worked out the details mentally but never wrote it down. Or, as an alternative scenario, it's possible that I actually wrote it down, but not in any of my essays. I could have written notes for a future blog or worked out the whole thing but recorded it somewhere else.

The third possibility is that I wrote it out in one of my previous essay, but simply can't remember where or when. I lost it. Because I'm losing it. (I know that is happening.) Unfortunately this seems to me to be the most likely explanation for what happened. Which leaves you to pay for it. (In fact if that's what happened, just you wait. I'll repeat my absentmindedness – euphemism for the real situation – and you'll pay for it again.) So if it looks familiar, please forgive me. (And if you know where it comes from, please let me know. I'll be your best friend forever. Or at least until Tuesday.) Chances are good, however, that no matter what the explanation, it won't affect very many people since very few read my words. I'm talking to myself.

In any event, with the presidential election coming soon, I wanted to comment on voting possibilities. As you probably know, I oppose both major party candidates. That leaves me with only limited choices and I'd like to outline and discuss them.

The first possibility (of three – parallels my mental state, doesn't it?) is to let the election pass without voting. If I can't vote for either of them in good conscience, why should I? How can I support someone whose views are anathema to me, whatever the reason for doing so. The major problem for me with that approach is that I subscribe to the obligation to vote. It's my civic duty. Corny as it sounds, I accept that. And since so few Americans vote, my absence from the polls won't be noticed, and it won't have any effect. It's a wasted non-vote. It's not the wasted vote that so many would consider it.

Another plausible response is to choose the lesser of the evils. There's no question in my mind that both of the candidates are poor choices, but perhaps one is worse than the other. However supporting the lesser of evils requires me to support evil. And, as I asked above, how can I support someone whose views are anathema to me – even if the views of the other are even more so? Voting for someone whose loss would please me really is a wasted vote. He or she might actually win.

It's not all that appealing, but there is another choice. It's a loser and I know it, but it gives me a chance to protest and be heard while remaining within the system. Voting for a third party makes a public statement that I consider the two main candidates to be unfit for the office. It's quite unlikely that anyone will believe such a vote to be a positive statement about the individual chosen because, frankly, so little is known about any but the candidates of the major parties. So if enough people opt for third party candidates the message of dissatisfaction will be heard, and may yet have some effect on the actions of whoever wins. Or it may have an effect on candidates and policies in the next election. It's even conceivable, even if unlikely, that some state may be won by such a candidate and both major party candidates deprived of a majority. I doubt that such a possibility will occur, but it would be very instructive for the candidates, the government, and the people, if the House of Representatives debated the issue and had the responsibility of choosing the next president.

And that's the option I shall choose. I'd prefer voting for a major party candidate whom I could, in good conscience, support, but since that alternative doesn't exist this time around, I can only place country above party and reject them both by selecting third-party candidates.

The ticket for me will be Johnson and Weld. How about you?