In defense of voting third party

First off: you should vote for whoever you support and want to win. Don’t be bullied into voting for or against someone by others. Don’t vote for someone you think will win; vote for who you most agree with (because you probably won’t agree with any candidate completely) and who you want to win. Don’t let other people make you feel guilty about who you voted for either. Shameless plug: if you don’t love either of the mainstream candidates, and prefer small government and personal freedom, check out Jo Jorgensen. joj2020.com

Now, to defend voting for a third party candidate.

I’ve had several people in real life conversations tell me that I shouldn’t vote third party for various reasons. I think all of their reasons are wrong as explained below.

“You have to vote democrat to get rid of Trump”, or “You have to vote Trump to keep democrats out”. False. False. False. Vote for the candidate you want to win. Do not vote for someone just because they aren’t who you dislike; the lesser of two evils. Don’t vote for Biden because he’s not trump. Don’t vote for Trump because he’s not Biden. There are other options. This line of thinking is how the two main parties stay in power. They’ve convinced 90%+ of voters that there are only two parties and you have to choose one. How many people reading this have ever even heard of Jo Jorgensen? The Republicans and Democrats want you to think they’re the only two options.

“A vote for third party is a waste”. False. A vote for third party isn’t a waste. A vote for someone who doesn’t win isn’t a waste. If you’re voting for the candidate who you think would be the best president, who aligns with your beliefs and values most closely, how could that ever be considered a waste. Third-parties haven’t become mainstream because of this belief (and also money and the influence of the existing two-party juggernaut that works to keep them out). A vote for third party isn’t a wasted vote; a vote for someone you don’t actually want to win but who you dislike less than the other candidate is a wasted vote. (FYI, your vote doesn’t matter. Last year over 120 million people voted for president. No single vote (for President) matters, but it’s important that you and everyone else who is able votes, and votes for who they actually want. Anyone who says you shouldn’t vote third party because you’re helping or hurting a R or D candidate is just wrong.)

“A third party vote is a vote for Biden” and “A third-party vote is a vote for Trump”. False and False. A vote for third party is a vote for third party. I had people tell me in the last election that my vote for Gary Johnson was a vote for Hillary, while still others told me that it was a vote for Trump. Either I found an amazing loophole in the voting system where my vote counted twice, or those people were wrong. I was never going to vote for Trump or Hillary in the last election. I will not vote for Trump or Biden in the upcoming election. This is just a tired argument that people keep parroting.

“You have to vote (Republican/Democrat) for the Supreme Court appointees”. This is more legitimate, but I still consider it false. We should vote for the president who we align with in values most closely. If a third-party candidate aligns with my values, they will appoint good judges who I support. This is mainly a narrative used by the media and both political parties to keep us locked into the two party system.

“You have to vote Republican so they can overturn Roe v. Wade”. Idealistic but false in my view. Abortion is responsible for a sickening number of deaths each year in America and around the world. I would love to see a world where abortion no longer exists and no more babies were ever aborted again. If this world is to come to be, it won’t be because the government outlaws abortion but because people make better decisions have better access to healthcare and receive better sex education. So this argument is idealistic at best. Additionally, Republicans have held all three branches of government at different times between 2001 and 2007, and for parts of Trump’s presidency. Roe v. Wade? Still in effect. So this argument might sound good but it just doesn’t seem to work for me.

These are just some of the reasons I’ve heard people say why you shouldn’t vote third-party. There are more that I can’t think of or don’t care to rebut. If this convinces one more person to vote for someone they actually want, rather than the lesser of two evils, it was worth it. If this convinces 70 million people to vote libertarian, then we are all about to be a lot more free.