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What he asked is for the ten best reasons why one should not vote for the Republicans or Democrats. Considering that he did not want a Letterman type of response, we gave it some serious thought. Our first and most glib answer was George Wallace's famous "There ain't a dime's worth of difference between the two parties!" For purposes of putting the matter simply, this usually suffices. Yet, there ARE differences between the main parties. They just don't matter much. And, there ARE reasons why one "should" vote for a candidate from one of these two. They just don't arise very often.
This year, for example, we were going to vote for Paul Wellstone before he died. The reason was simple. He was a personal friend and associate in the past and recently helped Roger get his passport. This would have been Willy's first vote for a Democrat since he was duped into voting for Lyndon Johnson in 1964, while Gypsy had never done so. Nor, have either of us ever voted for a Republican.
Any loyal Democrat or Republican can inform you of "differences" between the parties. The Democrats are "for the little person" while Republicans "favor the rich." Republicans are for "free enterprise" while Democrats lean "socialist." Etc., etc. Any fair reading of the actual performance of elected officials, however, puts the lie to ALL these claims. Oh, yes, on any particular issue...say government programs...Democrats are more LIKELY than Republicans to vote for giving handouts to the poor, Republicans to the rich, but these differences are slight and generally inconsequential. The fact that contributions...from the rich and powerful...are roughly equal to the two parties gives the facts away. That is, those who have the most to gain from big government really only see a dime's difference between them.
No, the heart of the issue lies in the often quoted myth about voting for third parties, that your vote will be "wasted." In what sense? That the minor party candidates have "no chance" of winning, and thus your vote for any of them will not matter. Those who wish to refute this fairy tale like to bring up Jesse Ventura. He DID win!
But, that is entirely beside the point. In any election, only one candidate wins. Therefore, ANY vote for ANY losing candidate has been "wasted." If you voted for the winning candidate, your vote has also been wasted...UNLESS, and this is VERY improbable...that candidate wins by a single vote!
So why vote for ANY candidate? Obviously, most people have already answered that question by not bothering. Tomorrow's turnout is projected to be below 40%. The answer lies with you. In a democracy, your vote can ONLY matter to YOU. The candidates are NOT ...except in rare instances...interested in you as an individual. To them the only thing that matters is the totals, the aggregate. But, this is NOT trivial, at least in our opinion. If, in your opinion, some candidate is going to do something of strong personal importance to you, why not vote for him or her?
So back to the original question. Why not vote for Republicans or Democrats? Here a lot depends upon how much you believe that democracy and elections matter to the future. If, like us, you place enormous faith in these concepts, then you MUST vote for somebody. In that case, it is obvious that BOTH major parties don't give a rat's ass about anything but power and influence...i.e. winning. They do not care whether YOU vote or not, only on the outcome. For decades...now centuries...this search for power has been corrupting the participants. The two major parties, like the two major baseball leagues, have seized control of the process in order to line THEIR pockets, to promote THEIR interests and nothing else. If in the process they have to entertain you, so be it.
Now, however, some very dire problems are facing humanity. War with weapons of mass destruction, terrorism, the collapse of the educational system, pollution, crime and on and on it goes. The Democrats and Republicans respond to these issues only when forced to by the third parties...the so-called "minor" participants. As long as we...collectively...refuse to "waste" our votes on these minor players, the Biggies won't change a thing.
So there you have it. Your vote is a secret. Nobody can MAKE you vote for any particular candidate nor even know for whom YOU voted. So vote for the ones YOU want. Vote for the persons YOU like. Vote for the future. Or, sit home and watch it on television. It's YOUR choice. Period.
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