“Lesser of two evils” murders American freedom
This wicked cycle of voting for evil recognizes no apparent boundaries. When considering support for a third party in the upcoming 2016 presidential elections, many Americans remain firmly in the camp that prefers an evil candidate who “can win” rather than placing a conscious vote for someone who, they believe, can’t.
The irony is as thick as the sky is blue.
Let's try to understand how this spiral works. Folks refuse to vote for a third party because they believe they can’t win. As a result, third parties don’t win presidential elections because people believe they can’t. And so, they don’t. And around and around we go. We are deadlocked. Both sides wait for the other to budge. Neither does.
The theory goes something like this: Once a third party stands a real chance at winning, people will begin voting for them. Naturally, a simple follow-up question needs to be asked. If people refuse to vote for a third party, how will third parties ever stand a chance?
The two party system continues its reign.
In an Op-Ed for the Washington Post, a professor vainly attempts to argue the moral superiority of voting for an evil candidate. “But the search for a clean conscience may result in immoral behavior,” she wrote, arguing that voting our conscious may result in the election of the greater evil.
Sadly, this belief cements our two-party system, further entrenching the landscape of American politics into a game that cannot be won, escaped, or improved. The more evil we accept, the more complacent we become.
The primaries, we are told, is the time to vote your conscious within your own party. The presidential elections, on the other hand, is no place for your conscious to get in the way. After all, our choice of the lesser of two evils looms, and we must do our civic duty by placing a vote for an evil candidate who we believe “can win”.
This insane style of voting has permeated American politics for decades, and the results speak loud and clear.
For example, the U.S.:
- Leads the world in incarceration rates
- Is the most expensive place in the world to have a baby
- Battles with the #1 world ranking for obesity
- Ranks below average in every OECD education category
- Comes in a mediocre 7th in overall literacy
- Finishes in the middle of the pack in science and math
- Is only the 33rd best country to invest in
- Spends more on defense than the next seven countries combined
The joke is over. We’ve tried the lesser of two evils voting method for decades, and we’re left with gaping areas of incredible mediocrity. Worse, although more and more Americans now side with the Libertarian point of view, far too many continue to ignore their better judgment when standing in a voting booth, opting instead for another source of evil.
And, of course, we continue to lament the system that we, in part, vote to support.
