Elections 2012

...In which I disagree vehemently with Borepatch.  He wrote here his reasoning for endorsing Barack Obama. Go read there.

While I understand his reasoning entirely, and think that a win for Obama would have precisely the effect he foresees, I cannot support that line of reasoning, for two reasons.

Frequently I hear people speaking of talking with votes.  Votes to a fringe candidate will have meaning to the party leadership as to the minds of their constituency.  The added level for me is that by voting, you are casting your lot in with your candidate.  You are making a statement that you approve of their plans, and you are shouldering some of the responsibility for placing that individual in office.  I personally absolutely refuse to allow my name to be used in support of Obama, and I will bear no responsibility for his actions over the next four years, should he emerge victorious.

For much the same reason, I will not vote for Romney.  There are people who have tried to tell me that giving my vote to anyone other than the two main parties is throwing it away, and as such I will be complicit in bringing to office either of the parties.  That reasoning doesn't fly with me.  As I see it, I am going to do everything in my power as an individual to prevent either of two men who I cannot in good conscience support.  That power is pretty much limited to voting, campaigning, and contributing.  Contributing is dicey, as I still haven't figured out which third party candidates I can support, but the other two options include negative action. I will not give my vote to a person I cannot support, and I will encourage other people to do the same.

The other problem I have is somewhat vague, and less logically based, but the one I think is more important.  What Borepatch is suggesting is manufacturing a crisis to convert more people to our cause.  To me, this reeks of manipulative skulduggery.  I don't want to be the soccer player that throws himself on the ground and calls foul on an opponent.

Obama really is the threat that we see him as.  It is no lie for me to say that I see him and the ideology he represents as perhaps the single greatest threat to the future of this country over the past century if not its entire history.  Giving him the opportunity to destroy more of this country so that other people will come to the same conclusion seems petty, passive agressive, subversive, and immoral, and as such, I cannot support voting for Obama.

Neither party is good for this country. I have no tolerance myself for voting for the lesser of two evils. I would rather send a vote to a candidate I can support in good conscience than a candidate who has the backing of establishment (and by extension, a reasonable hope of victory.)  The two party system needs to be broken, and that won't happen by voting for one of the parties because we dislike it less.

Just to be clear, none of this is meant as a criticism of Borepatch personally.  When I met him, he seemed like a genuinely nice guy, and he's clearly very intelligent.  My criticism is only directed at the plan of action he outlines, which I don't think is motivated by anything bad.