I "threw my vote away", and I feel fine.

I know it's almost a week after the election, but last week's hectic schedule left me little time for blogging, and I didn't want to let this go.

I've detailed on this blog over the last weeks and months my status as a registered Libertarian, and my reasons for being such. However, as of last Tuesday night, I went from a registered Libertarian to a voting Libertarian, and I'm pumped about it. That's right, critics, I went "all idealistic" and "threw my vote away" by voting for someone who had no chance to win the election, and I ENJOYED it :-)

You know, I'm not about to spend a lot of time convincing someone to think Libertarian. I think most people either resonate with that set of political ideals from the get go, or they don't, and I've already given the reasons why I do on this blog in detail. What I will spend some time discussing is what is, in my opinion, the fallacy that you have to vote for either the Republican or the Democrat in a big election for your vote to count.

I personally contend that there are only 2 ways to "throw your vote away", and neither of them involve voting for a non-viable 3rd party. The first one is obvious, and that is simply to not vote. The 2nd one is less obvious, and that is to vote for someone you don't really want to be President. I personally feel like I have thrown my vote away in one of the 3 Presidential elections I've voted in, but it wasn't this time, it was in 2004. I voted for George W. Bush fairly enthusiastically in 2000, but by the time 2004 rolled around, I was no longer impressed. I was (and remain) convinced he was better choice than John Kerry back then, so I voted for him again, and have spent the last 4 years watching the guy I voted for frustrate me again and again. To quote a rather important person in my life, I was "disappointed, but not surprised." I got pretty much what I expected from President Bush, because it was pretty much what we got in the first 4 years. Anyone who voted for the President in 2004 expecting something significantly different from what we got might want to direct themselves to Einstein's definition of insanity. About 2 years ago, shortly before the 2006 mid-term elections, I told myself I wasn't going to do that again - if neither of the 2 major parties gave me a candidate I could expect much better from, I was going to find a better choice - even if that meant that in some way, I was "helping" to elect a candidate who fell even further from my ideals.

As all of the candidates I could really resonate with (there were maybe 2 or 3) fell to the wayside in the primaries, I knew I was going to have a decision to make. I gave Sen. McCain a good long look, and determined that if I voted for him and if he won, I would be setting myself up for another 4 years of "Yeah, that's terrible, but what can I say, I voted for the guy". The weight of that particular decision was made less when the fallout from the economic upheaval made it clear that Sen. McCain was going to lose regardless of whether I voted or him or not, but I'm pretty sure the decision was made before then.

So, I did it, I "threw my vote away" (as, by that sort of definition, did a number of McCain and Obama supporters in various solid red and blue states, if the definition of throwing your vote away is voting for someone who has no chance to win, since the national Presidential election actually is nothing more than 50 state elections plus one in DC), and I'm cool with it. My true voice was registered in the election this year in a way that it wasn't 4 years ago, and I'm pleased by that fact. Here's me hoping that more people begin to join me in voting their true feelings (wherever they might fall on the political spectrum) and as a result we might begin to move toward real change.

(Note: This will be my last post related this election, for those who were worried. My views on rescuing the health care system in this country can wait until President-elect Obama becomes President Obama and starts pushing his fixes through, at which time they will be much more topical)