I’m tired of being told I’m wasting my vote.
Who is pleased with the way Washington, D.C., is operating?
The Obama administration has fought for the power to detain Americans indefinitely without trial. This is one of the most egregious breaches of fundamental liberty in the history of this country.
Isn’t this something worth mentioning at a debate between the two candidates? Apparently not. It was not brought up at all in the two-party debates.
This is probably because Mitt Romney and Barack Obama agree on this issue. They both seem to want the power to detain people indefinitely without trial.
What about the drug war? What about all of the people imprisoned for nonviolent crimes involving marijuana? What about our Mexican neighbors who are dying? None of that was mentioned, either.
Perhaps it wasn’t mentioned because they agree on the drug war, too.
What about drone warfare and domestic drones? What about the Patriot Act and the Transportation Security Administration? What about Internet freedom? I could go on.
Any of these issues is worthy of protest. Why don’t we protest? Are we fine with the way things are? Are we too consumed with our own lives and problems to stand up for the rights that are violated?
What will our children think about us?
At least pick up the phone and call your Congress people. Tell them they will not be elected if they are hostile toward liberty. No one actually does that, though.
Fine, then. At least use the power of your vote to stand for what’s right.
Why would it be a wasted vote to stand for what’s right? Is freedom really so unpopular?
There is a candidate who stands for freedom: Gary Johnson, the Libertarian candidate for president. If you’re still on the fence, then I encourage you to research his positions.
If you don’t quite agree with him, then I suggest you research Jill Stein of the Green Party.
I have been treated with much hostility since announcing my support for Johnson. Without rebutting one of my arguments, I’ve been called “stupid” by more than a few people.
This social pressure, the illusion that to suggest anything other than voting for a Republican or Democrat is crazy or naive, may be the strongest pressure against the third-party candidates.
Of course, the two parties have colluded to keep these third-party candidates out of the minds of the populace. From ballot access to debate participation, third parties are structurally restricted. They are required to complete hurdles like gathering, in some cases, millions of signatures.
You might not know this, but both Johnson and Stein have sued the Commission on Presidential Debates. You may not know this either, but Philips, the largest of the original 10 sponsors to pull the Commission’s support, pulled its funding after the exclusion of Johnson from the debates.
These seem like big stories to me, but most of the news outlets don’t cover them. Despite the fact that independents make up the largest portion of voters, it still seems like a crazy, stupid or naive idea to many to vote for someone who isn’t a Democrat or a Republican.
Consider this: unless we issue the two parties an incentive to change their behaviors, how else will they decide to change? If you keep voting for the people of the same party despite the fact that you disagree with them half the time, what reason would they have to act differently?
We all have to do our part to change the social and political landscape. Unless we all do our small part, nothing changes. If we all change our behaviors, society changes one bit at a time.
This is not a naive sentiment — this is an accurate assessment of the nature of society.
Will you do your part?
Brandon Lee Gagne is an anthropology senior at UF. His column appears on Thursdays. You can contact him via opinions@alligator.org.
