How Voting Should Work

Above all, allow me to state that I believe voting is a moral responsibility for all American citizens, and the population should vote based upon what they believe is the correct path for the nation; people often complain that the government should not legislate morality on the citizens, but this is impossible: if the government makes a decision one way or the other on any issue, it is handing down a decision based on morality one way or the other. No one should vote for a candidate simply because he/she is "the lesser of two evils" or because he/she will be breaking some standard. Yes those were shots at Senators John McCain and Barack Obama, respectively.

The lack of information in this election is appalling; sixty percent (60%) of the population that is likely to vote does not want to vote for either candidate, and yet only these two receive any coverage. Allow me to repeat that: the majority of the voting population does not want either candidate elected, and yet only these two are given media coverage, are invited to presidential debates, or are discussed in any forum beyond the confines of the private computers of anonymous web surfers. For example, in the debate in Oxford, who was present: McCain, Obama, and Jim Lehrer as Moderator. Where were the other candidates? What about Robert (Bob) Barr, the Libertarian Party candidate, or Cyntia McKinney, the Green Party candidate, to name a few? You may say, "Well, they have no support, so why invite them?" Why do you think they have so little support? If nobody knows about them, how can they have any support? We've entered into a "Chicken and the Egg" scenario; as long as they have no support, the media can get away with not covering third parties and independants, but as long as they get no coverage, the third parties and independants will get no support.

I can not morally vote for either candidate, and I've made up my mind on who to vote for (I'll cover that later). Regardless, whenever I tell my family members or friends about this, they all inevitably ask me why I would be throwing away my vote on someone who won't win. This is the most hypocritical, inane question, and I apologize to my family and friends for saying this, but it is how I feel. The only votes that are thrown away are the ones that aren't cast, or are cast for someone the voter doesn't honestly believe in. Voting should not, and was not originally intended to be, a popularity contest. You should not vote for someone just so you can be right about who won. You are an intelligent person; make a decision for yourself.

I can understand former generations only voting Republican or Democrat; with only television and radio for information, it was easy to control what people heard and saw. But now, with the advent of the internet, there is no excuse for voters being uninformed, other than sheer laziness. Five minutes on any search engine will yield results on any candidate or party that is running. I'll admit, I was once guilty of this: just one year ago, I was asked who I would vote for, and I replied that I would vote for whoever my party named as a candidate. I didn't even consider the primaries. But my roommate encouraged me to begin researching a certain candidate, and once I started with him, I began researching everyone running for the party nomination, and moved on to other parties as well. I did this because it was my responsibility to be as informed as possible before casting a vote for someone; this is your responsibility as well.

I am utterly amazed by what I hear around my college campus regarding politics. I've heard people say, "I don't like McCain, but he's better than Obama," and "I'm voting for Obama because we need a black president to get past the racism in this country." I don't blame the candidates for this; the fault lies with these people for not taking enough of an interest to do some research. Liberal, conservative, socialist, capitalist, you can find anything you need if you are only willing to do a little bit of searching.