“voting the lesser of two evils still gets you evil,” “if we always do what we’ve always done, we’ll always get what we’ve always gotten,” blah blah blah.
I was a big L Libertarian until 9/11/01 and the Libertarian Party came out with it’s absurd position on Islamist terror. It wasn’t until I left the echo chamber that I was able to approach the LP’s arguments and slogans from the outside. It was then that I realized that I had been too hung up on the fact that the slogans above are generally true to realize that they are also completely beside the point. In any election, most voters want to influence the outcome of THAT election. In an election where the winner takes all—and all of our elections are winner take all—this means that the vast majority of votes will go to the top two contenders, period, the front runner and the main challenger. This indisputable reality is what produces our two party system.
When voters have but a single vote to exercise in any election, then casting that vote for anyone other than the frontrunner and main contender really is “throwing away” that vote in regards to determining the outcome of the election. Most voters won’t do it, even if they would prefer the third, fourth, or fifth tier candidate. But by giving voters the power to vote for any candidate or combination of candidates in an election does away with “wasted vote” syndrome by allowing voters to vote their personal preference AND between the top two contenders (presuming they’re different). By doing so we also eliminate spoiled elections. Even with multiple votes casts by voters, each vote still carries the same weight, votes are still counted the same way we do now with the winner being the one who gets the most votes, the balloting rules are simple to understand, and the outcomes are fair.
Any third parties that truly hope to win any elections should join together and push for approval voting reform. Even the major parties would be better off insofar as they won’t lose anymore elections due to a Perot or a Nader or a Barr.
yours/
peter.
