Vote,
and vote your conscience
Ginny
LaRoe
I
won’t be wasting my vote. Not at the
May 4 primary, and not in November.
At Tuesday’s primary election I will
ask for my party’s ballot and pick
the best candidates regardless of their
so-called electability or popularity.
When
I check the box for Dennis Kucinich for
president — who will be on the ballot
because he has every intention of going
to the Democratic National Convention in
July — I will be voting my conscience.
That is what Ralph Nader would like you
to do.
“The
only vote you waste is when you vote for
someone you don’t believe in,”
he said during his speech on campus April
24.
It’s
this message, not his campaign for the presidency
as an independent candidate, that moved
me.
I
believe in Kucinich; his policies, his style,
his moral character and vision for this
country. While only a few technicalities
stand between John Kerry and the nomination,
I owe it to democracy, to promoting choice
and to myself to vote for the candidate
I truly believe in.
Before
the decisive Iowa caucus, John Edwards seemed
a viable candidate with many talking about
how much they liked his charm, policies
and experience. So what happened?
Apparently
voters liked Edwards, but decided to give
their precious votes to Kerry — the
“safe” candidate.
It’s
voters’ apathy and willingness to
settle for the “lesser of the two
evils” rather than casting a vote
for someone we believe in, Nader says, that
is the root of the current limited, two-party
system.
Unfortunately,
third parties haven’t had very much
success in putting up candidates that mainstream
American can rally behind. So, the minority
of us who show up on Election Day vote for
the guy we are told can beat the other guy.
Students,
ethnic-minorities and other under-represented
groups like women need to find a way to
make their positions have pull. That means
organizing and being involved in the political
process. It’s as simple as signing
petitions for causes you believe in, and
as involved as marching in Washington.
Voter
turnout would surely increase if there was
more choice, but to get to that point voters
need to make the commitment to voting not
for the perceived winner, but for the candidate
we believe in.
But
the two-party system, and government are
unlikely to change unless we show up on
May 4, Nov. 2, and every other election
day.
This
column originally appeared in The Sagamore
of Purdue University.
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