Wednesday, October 20, 2004
Uh... I seem to have misplaced sense
What does Garin Hovannisian have to say about voting? Don't vote for a third party. The arguments are:
The underlying point is simple. Americans generally understand that in the choice between two candidates, they must vote for one of them.
The argument I have presented above will not move those who believe that their votes do not count. That these people say, "My vote doesn't count," then go to the voting booths astounds many people.
But it shouldn't. It shouldn't because the purpose of voting is not to pick single-handedly the next president of the United States but to participate in a sacred process – a process that has served this country well for more than two centuries. A vote might not decide the outcome of the race, but it will contribute in some small way to the candidate who received it and, more importantly, to the process that makes all of this talk possible.
Uh... Well, if the point is just to participate in this sacred process (which, by the way, is a steaming load of horse dung), then it doesn't matter who you vote for at all. If the point is not to participate but to select a candidate, it still doesn't matter because your vote doesn't count towards the selection of a candidate.
What this gobbledygook comes down to is this – your vote will not decide the presidential election, but you should vote anyway. You should vote because the process of democracy is important to you.
You should vote for a main-party candidate. You should because you do not want to be a loser and because, if the improbable happens – if the candidate opposing your beliefs wins by one vote – you do not want to be the one in therapy.
Oooookay, then. You should vote for a candidate because you don't want to be a loser. Which means, don't worry about who is the better candidate, vote for who you think is going to win. But also because the process of democracy is important to you. Yep, yep.
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