Deciding How To Cast My Vote

(The picture above is from the excellent Texas blog called Brains and Eggs.)

The presidential campaign is now winding down. I have been wavering back and forth between two candidates, and it is nearing the time when I must make a final choice. I write this post only to explain my own thought process, and not to tell you who you should vote for. That is a decision you have to make for yourself. All I ask is that you give it some serious thought, and then vote your conscience.

I live in Texas, and there are four presidential candidates on the Texas ballot. They are Willard Mitt Romney (Republican Party), Gary Johnson (Libertarian Party), Barack Obama (Democratic Party), and Dr. Jill Stein (Green Party).

I must immediately reject any thought of voting for the Republican candidate. I have never voted for a Republican, and I see no reason to start now. This is especially true in this election, since I believe Willard Mitt Romney (aka Wall Street Willie) would be an unmitigated George W. Bush-style disaster as president. He offers nothing but the same old "trickle-down" policies that destroyed millions of jobs, stagnated worker salaries, weakened unions and hurt the middle class, and threw this country into the most serious recession since the Great Depression (while tilting the economic table toward the rich).

I also reject the idea of voting for the Libertarian, Gary Johnson. While I like a lot of the positions that Libertarians take on social issues (that the government has no right to make personal choices of citizens illegal since they don't harm their fellow citizens -- things like marijuana use, abortion,  and sexual preference). But their view on economic policy bothers me a great deal. They oppose taxes, and oppose the government helping the poor and disadvantaged. This would, in my view, lead to a selfish dog-eat-dog nation, where the strong thrive and the weak are trampled. I don't wish to live in that kind of country.

That leaves me with two candidates -- Barack Obama and Dr. Jill Stein. These are the two candidates I have been wavering between. I like them both. I agree the most with Dr. Stein's progressive stance on the issues facing this country. But I know she has no chance of actually winning the presidency, and therefore hope President Obama will be re-elected. He's a little bit too moderate for my taste, but he is immensely preferable to the other candidate with a chance of winning (Willard).

Texas is a blood-red state. There is almost no chance that President Obama will win Texas. Because of demographics this state will turn blue in the future, but that is several elections away. Right now the Republicans control Texas. This means that if I vote for President Obama, I will have just thrown my vote away (since Texas is sure to cast it's electoral votes for Willard, and the popular vote means nothing in this country). However, if I cast a vote for Dr. Stein, at least I will be helping to insure the Green Party stays on the ballot in the future (and I think that's a good thing that offers the promise of more democracy in the future).

I will wait another couple of weeks before making my final decision, just to make sure the president doesn't close the gap in Texas and make a vote for him viable. But right now, it looks like I will be voting for Dr. Jill Stein of the Green Party.

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NOTE -- If you are not excited about the major party candidates, you might be interested in this: