In the past few months, I have heard a considerable amount of complaints regarding the major candidates within the Republican and Democratic parties. The themes have been that these candidates are liars, frauds, just trying to take advantage of the situation, bullies, and others. These arguments have been made about candidates on both sides of the aisle and it is especially true of those expected to get the party nominations. To be clear, I specifically mean Donald Trump on the Republican side and Hillary Clinton on the Democratic.
What I find frustrating is the response people have to these two candidates being the likely winners. First off, it should be noted that Bernie Sanders does still have a chance at the Democratic nomination, though it is quite a long shot at this point. For the sake of this argument, however, I am going to assume that Trump and Clinton will be their respective party's nominees.
As soon as I say that there is a public outcry of anguish at this decision. People from both sides lament the terrible possibility of either candidate being president. I hear complaints that Trump is a foolish bully who has no hope at actually accomplishing anything he says. In spite of his strong rhetoric he is merely another empty promiser who will accomplish the same nothing that any past candidates have. On the other hand the same people on both sides of the aisle complain that Clinton is a no good liar who cannot be trusted to keep government secrets. She has flip flopped on important issues and of course her possible involvement in the Benghazi scandal is brought up.
The overwhelming response to the possibility of these two candidates comes in the same form though either in favor of Clinton or Trump depending on the person. The answer is to not vote for Trump because you like him, but to vote for him because you hate Hillary. On the other side are those who would vote for Hillary, because they see Trump as the greater of two evils and not because they approve of Clinton.
I would suggest that this reaction is not a wise one, and it will only breed similar situations in the future in which the vast majority of people are not fond of either major party candidate. No, instead we as a population must do something that is always said to be a waste. If we want to show that the voters really matter, and that what they think needs to be taken into consideration when candidates are offered for the office of president, we need to show that neither candidate is acceptable.
How should this be done? The answer is to vote for a third party or independent candidate. Whoa! I know what you are thinking, the third party and independent candidates have no chance, and you might be correct, but voting for them can send an important message to the powers that be within the Democratic and Republican camps.
Let’s just imagine for a minute that the candidates other than Republicans and Democrats get 10 percent of the vote in total. Sounds like they got walloped. That is nowhere near enough to win any electoral votes or to get elected to office. Still, whoever loses among the Republicans and Democrats will have to figure out why, and when they realize that one tenth of the population decided to vote for someone who had little to no shot at winning instead of their candidate, they will have to consider why. Perhaps next time they will consider a bit harder on what kind of candidate they want to put forward for office.
So if in your mind this upcoming election is a choice between the lesser of two evils, think again. Send a message to those in high places by casting your vote for a minor party candidate, and eventually maybe they will have a real chance at winning. Even if they don’t you can rest easy knowing you are not to blame for the next fool to occupy the white house.
