A little after my 18th birthday in February of 2014, I filled out a voter registration card and began to look forward to November 8th, 2016.

However, after a long and exhausting two years of fighting to defend the rights in which the U.S. Constitution guarantees, like limited government, I cannot honestly say that I am still excited for my first presidential election. For one thing, I truly believe that my party has let me down.

Yes. I am a registered Republican.

No. I will not be voting for Donald Trump.

That said, I am a strong believer in voicing (or voting) based on my opinions over supporting my party. So here are a few third party voting myths I like to debunk.

1. "Just vote for the candidate you hate less."

Actually, don't.

Honestly, where did this idea even come from? And in what way, shape, or form is this voicing your opinion?

Consider this quote from C.S. Lewis:

"I feel a strong desire to tell you–and I expect you feel a strong desire to tell me–which of these two errors is the worse. That is the devil getting at us. He always sends errors into the world in pairs–pairs of opposites. And he always encourages us to spend a lot of time thinking which is the worse. You see why, of course? He relies on your extra dislike of the one error to draw you gradually into the opposite one. But do not let us be fooled. We have to keep our eyes on the goal and go straight between both errors. We have no other concern than that with either of them."

If you do not agree with the ideologies of either major party candidate, you are not obligated to vote for them.

2. "If you cast your ballot outside of the two party system, you've wasted your vote."

Wrong.

The reason we vote is literally to share our opinion with our government/country. Yes, there is a huge chance that your third party candidate will not win, but that does not mean your vote doesn't matter.

However, if you cast a vote without first educating yourself on the matter, or don't vote at all, only then have you wasted your vote.

3. "A third party vote, is a vote for (insert name of eviler candidate here)."

Wrong again.

We live in a nation where majority rules, and even then our votes have to go through the electoral college before our vote can be made official. Therefore, to say a traditional party candidate can lose (or win) because of votes outside these party lines is completely nonsensical.

In conclusion, this is your America, and its future lies within whether or not you choose to voice your opinion, and no, that does not have to be your parties opinion. So please, this November 8th, go into the voting booth and vote for your values. Yes, even if that means abandoning your party for this election.