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Don’t Reward Bad Choices: Vote Third Party For President, Republican for Congress
We have come to an election in which there seems to be no way to win. At first glance, the election seems binary and the two choices we are given are unthinkable. In Hillary Clinton, we have someone very probably guilty of crimes not merely of corruption but crimes that endangered our national security. No one that really cares for the country should vote for her to be president. Turning to the Republican alternative, you find Donald Trump. His ignorance of policy issues and his reckless, ignorant, and dangerous foreign policy pronouncements should give you pause about his fitness for office. Looking at his character, you find even more horrifying information. He is a man of privilege who gained success from gaming the system and legal tricks, and his sense of entitlement leads to his mistreatment of women and gross statements about their treatment at his hands. How can such a man lead a nation like the United States?
Politics is not generally binary and this election is no exception. There are ways to do good with your vote and help our country despite Trump and Clinton. No matter who becomes president we will need Republicans in Congress to put a brake on their excesses. Senators Ben Sasse, Mike Lee, Marco Rubio, Tom Cotton, Rand Paul, Pat Toomey, Kelly Ayotte, and many other honorable men and women need to the leaders in the Senate. Voting for the Republican Senate candidates (and hopefully having them often out-perform Donald Trump in the election) will send a powerful message to Washington. It will give the Senate Republicans the mandate and confidence to oppose the wild excesses of the president.
Even on the presidential level, there are ways to send the message of disapproval. In a blue state, vote Jill Stein to split the liberals in your state; in a red state, vote for Evan McMullin or Gary Johnson to remind the Republican party that the Democrats’ nomination unfit candidates for office is no reason for the Republicans to follow suit. Vote to keep the House because of Paul Ryan’s great work there and House Republicans’ many stands for freedom over the last six years.
Politics are not binary, we can still advance our ideas, and your vote can matter in many different races and speak in many different ways. Make your voice heard: Vote!
Published in Politics
Excellent post! The greatest destruction will occur if either of these idiots gets over 50% of the popular vote. After that, there are honest disagreements over which would be better in the big office, in a greatly diminished role. For my own part, voting for Clinton is disgusting and immoral though. While some that are behind Trump are equally disgusting and immoral, his followers are largely truly good people and his platform is better.
Ahh a true brothers in arms. Thank my friend for your kind comment.
We must have strong conservative Congress so folks must vote. Congress may become irrelevant if it cannot stop any and all Hillary Court, administrative and other key appointments which isn’t likely, so while there vote Trump he’ll be weak and will go away. The administrative state does not go away, it grows, that is its nature and it can’t be changed and is the threat; Hillary is just a new order ruthlessness and anger.
Why vote when both choices are horrible? Because one choice is MUCH more horrible than the other. One is vain and verbose and venal. The other is a sociopath. One, if elected, will probably screw up badly, but will so in the genuine belief that what they are doing is in the best interest of America and her people. The other cares only for money and influence and power. The welfare of America and her people is so far removed from their calculations that they cease to matter. And their aides and allies are just as bad if not worse because they admit that their candidate is a sociopath but, in the quest for their own power and influence and wealth, struggle mightily to get them elected. One will be gone in four years. The other is an existential threat to the Republic as we know it because the rules and norms, checks and balances, the laws themselves have no meaning. And like it or not, the solution set of tomorrow’s vote is binary. Try your best to keep the greater of two evils away from the White House.
Must of your stuff applies to both candidates. So which one is the worse threat?
@brianwolf. Surely that is a rhetorical question.
Nope. Absolutely nothing you wrote about Clinton does not also apply to DJT. There is no lesser evil between the two.
Oh, and Brian- what you propose in the title is what I did.
I also followed my advice! Glad we are in this together @hartmannvonaue
I am quite certain that you bemoan the Left’s ‘moral equivalence’ arguments, yet here you are finding the same.
I will vote for Evan McMullin and the GOP candidates down ballot.
The problem is less the candidates and more how important this office has become, though it’s hard to overstate how much of a problem these candidates are.
Excellent post. I agree with every word and put it into practice last week.
Great Job, Brian. I agree and will vote McMullin tomorrow early and often.
I loved your day in the life of Never Trumper so much I am thrilled you liked my post. Glad to be in the trenches with you!
It’s interesting to see this site taken over by NeverTrumpers. I can’t figure out if you are people who will profit from Hillary’s misrule or just virtue signaling.
The second time I have been disappointed with joining.
McMullin is admittedly less objectionable than the major candidates, but that’s about as low a bar as one can set. I’m frankly stunned by the support he gets here. Johnson takes a couple of positions that are disqualifying and has a running mate that makes any RINO look like Attila the Hun. We don’t have the Constitution Party, and voting for a kook like Stein is a bit too cute for me. I’m still on the fence, but I’m also comfortable with leaving the box unchecked since I’m #NotBinary. Lower turnout numbers speak about as loudly as protest votes.
BTW, anybody seen the market today on the Comey news?
The site is not taken over by anyone. Each member pays his dues and says what he will.
Great post, Brian. I agree and will do so as well.
I was referring to the majority opinion, which, aside from NRO and Weekly Standard, has been more neutral or supportive of the GOP nominee. Except here.
Personally, I think McMullin is pretty good. In fact, according to the quiz on ISideWith.com, I’m 99% aligned with him on the issues. I had already been planning to vote for him when I took the quiz, but was quite surprised by how closely aligned we are. No wonder I like him. See attached screenshot. (Note: since Trump is an incorrigible chronic liar, the result of “74% agreement” with him means nothing to me).
The binary choice from the duopoly is unacceptable. I concur. As for me it’s Gov. Gary Johnson for President and Senator Ron Johnson for Wisconsin Senator.
Maybe we just think there are two candidates that are historically, disqualifying-ly terrible. Is that even a possibililty (that our motivation is neither Hillary-profiting (please!) or virtue signalling) you are willing to consider, Mike? It KILLS me that Hillary might win.
I understand the argument for voting Jill Stein, or for voting McMullin. What is the argument for voting for someone less principled than Trump, like Johnson, as a way of expressing disapproval for a lack of principle? It’s like voting Stein as a way of messaging that one doesn’t approve of socialism, or for Trump to say that one thinks that gentlemanly decorum toward women is the most important thing in a President.
Enjoy the next 4 to 8 years of Hillary.
You deserve it.
As do you, if you voted for Trump in the primary.
I didn’t. Primaries are long over.
This is the thing that seems so weird to me about the never-trumpers. They’re still stuck in the Republican primary.
can’t believe how many NEVER Johnson there are here!
Not stuck really. The fate of the nation was unfortunately sealed in the Republican primary. Donald Trump is unqualified to be President, has no ideology or temperament that can help him navigate the difficult waters of the Presidency and so will be a failed President we are just being realistic about that.
@jamesofengland For me it was the assignment. I agree with you about Johnson but the assignment was to persuade undecided voters to vote. I aimed at the people disgusted by Trump and Hillary and most of them are not as well informed about Johnson than you are and I am since I have read you about him. So I debated a long time about whether I should include his name or not in the non-binary options. I finally concluded that he was low enough in the polls not to be a danger and I thought if a guy got out and voted Johnson and then the Republicans for Congress the good of that vote would far out weigh the negatives. Perhaps that was an error on my part but I wanted to reach the maximum number of undecided so I included Johnson knowing that few are really informed about him.
If he had been higher in the polls I would not have included him.