Lesser of two evils voters are the albatross weighing down the US

With elections, the most commonly uttered phrases are: "If you don't vote you have no right to complain." The other one is "Don't waste your vote."

I agree with the former but not for the reason most people state. If you vote dishonest and incompetent people into office, you are part of the problem because your vote helped them get there. The person that did not vote, had nothing to do with getting them in office. That logic is like saying, there was a plane crash in Toronto but let’s blame the pilot of the plane at the Atlanta airport that hasn’t left the ground for the crash. That example sounds extreme but you should vote because people fought wars for the right to do it. However, the ones that vote have less of a right to complain than those who did not.

The “don’t waste your vote” theory is aimed at those who either write in a candidate or vote for a third party. This logic is where I take issue. The general election is slated for November 8. The front-runners are Donald Trump (Republican) and Hillary Clinton (Democrat), the latter despite opposition from Bernie Sanders, who is the United States Senator from Vermont.

Trump and Clinton are two polarizing figures. The Trump supporters champion two things: a) “He tells it like it is!” shouts the card-carrying Republican; and b) He’s a businessman not a career politician. Telling it like it is suddenly makes you qualified to be president? Well, I met a clerk at 7-11 “tells it like it is” but he is not making it to the White House. I’m all for getting career politicians out of office in favor of a businessman. However, Trump has used bankruptcies four times, yet he has all the answers. You can give me whatever reason you want but if you are selling me that a businessman is better than a politician, I can forgive one bankruptcy because anyone can make one bad decision but four is a pattern.

Clinton is in her second run to become president. She served as the US Secretary of State from 2009 to 2013, the junior US Senator representing New York from 2001 to 2009, First Lady of the US from 1993-2001 and First Lady of Arkansas for 12 years. She remains dogged by two scandals from her time as secretary of state — the terrorist attack on the diplomatic outpost in Benghazi, Libya, and her use of a private email account for official business. That’s not my idea of honorability.

Sanders had been the longest-serving independent in U.S. congressional history, though his caucusing with the Democrats entitled him to committee assignments and at times gave Democrats a majority. Sanders became the ranking minority member on the Senate Budget Committee in January 2015 after serving two years as chair of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee. Sanders is a self-proclaimed democratic socialist who is pro labor and favors greater economic equality. Good luck on finding economic equality, Bernie.

I’m no Barack Obama supporter, I did not vote for him in 2008 or 2012 and I wouldn’t vote him for a third term. However, with these three jokers, the US’s problems won’t get solved by Obama leaving office.

I’ll say this for Sanders, he’s transparent about who he is but on philosophical differences alone, I can’t vote for him.

I’ll be 44-years old this August. I was registered Republican for almost 20 years (1992-2011) before I went to rehab. I briefly became independent before joining the Libertarian Party. Gary Johnson, who was the party’s nominee in 2012 and recently secured the party’s nomination in 2016, describes the party as more culturally liberal than Democrats and more fiscally conservative than Republicans. With the latter, I would add the word more fiscally responsible as well.

The Republicans lost me mostly because they don’t practice what they preach about fiscal responsibility. They won’t get me back anytime soon. The Democrats will never get me as long as they keep feeding the moocher mentality. I’m all for helping the needy but I’m not into enabling the lazy.

I give Clinton, Trump and Sanders the Rasberry. That leaves Johnson for me. I can hear the pundits already saying, “A non-vote for Clinton is a vote for Trump” or “A non-vote for Trump is a vote for Clinton,” or “Why waste your vote on someone who’s not going to win.”

Let me number the ways I can expose that pathetic argument. For openers, you only help a candidate by voting for them. If you don’t vote for them, that doesn’t help them. The same people that make those statements subscribe to voting the “lesser of two evils” theory. Now THAT is wasting your vote because you are voting for someone you don’t believe in. That is an ass backwards and outmoded principle.

How many elections are so close that one vote decides it? None. Plus, it’s not the voters’ job to decide the election. It’s the candidate’s job to earn the voters’ support.

The lesser of two evils approach is a defensive vote. Evil is still evil. To draw a parallel, 20 miles per hour over the speed limit to 20 miles per hour over the speed limit whether you go 80 in a 60 or 60 in a 40.

I keep hearing about how there are all of these Republicans and Democrats that are angry with their party. In the same breath, they will tell you that they want a third party alternative. Yet when election time comes, they circle back to the lesser of two evils approach. What these people fail to realize is that if you want change, you have to help create it. That means vote it out. The best way to get your message through is to hit them where it hurts. If you’re a Republican or Democrat angry with your party, vote a third party candidate whether it’s Libertarian, Green Party or Peace and Freedom, whatever. Just don’t keep going down the same pathetic road you keep travelling that puts our country in a ditch, or even worse off the cliff. That principle is no different than if you don’t like the food in a restaurant, you go to a different one.

Most moderate Democrats and Republicans are Libertarians, they just don’t know it yet.

If you vote lesser of two evils, you are no better than a drug addict enabler. My voting Johnson as a Libertarian is my way of telling the Republicans and Democrats, “I’m not tolerating you any longer.” When you vote lesser of two evils, you are making no stance. Instead, you are just preserving a system that is clearly not working.

OK, Republicans and Democrats, I’m challenging you to make a really hard decision -- be honest with yourself. The question is -- are you even capable? I would love to be proven wrong.

Are you are voting Trump, Clinton or Sanders because you truly believe in your heart of hearts, they are the ones to turn this country around? If so, I can respect your decision even if I might not like it. However, if you are going lesser of two evils or if you are waffling by saying, “(insert name) is not ideal but is better than (insert name),” it’s time to make a change and vote for that change. Most importantly, if you are in this camp and vote for Trump or Clinton, you have a problem and need counseling. Make that you ARE the problem. Politicians are no saints but at some point, the people suck, not the politicians. YOU keep electing them and then complain about the direction of our country.

If you want change, it won’t happen by voting lesser of two evils. That is a message of compromise, meaning you will settle for a good America but not the best. Well, it’s time to stop settling.

It’s better to vote for what you want and not get it than vote for what you don’t want but you get it anyhow.

Election day is about five months away, use that time to cleanse and be honest with yourself.