Every single election cycle I hear the same message from Gay Inc.: you have to go vote, and you have to vote Democrat. Anything else, apparently, would lead to utter disaster. You simply can't vote for an evil, bad Republican, and voting for a third party… I mean, who even does that? Third parties are totally for hippies, nut jobs, and tin-hat wearers, amiright?
Every. Single. Year. The same exact message.
And you know what? The message is wrong. You should vote for whomever you think will best represent you. Period.
Vote (dem) Or Die
It's funny to me that every time I mention in a group that I want to vote for a Green Party or (god forbid) Socialist candidate the whole group gasps and stares at me with bewilderment. How could I vote for someone other than a Democrat! Everyone knows that if I vote for anyone other than the Democrat, I'll be "wasting" my vote and then the evil, vile, blood-thirsty Republican will eat me in my sleep. Seriously, everyone knows that. Just ask your average LGBT person at the gay bar, they'll tell you all about it.
But here's the thing: your average Democrat doesn't represent my beliefs. Most Democrats don't support full marriage equality, the unequivocal repeal of DADT, the inclusion of LGB and T folks in the civil rights bills, completely universal health care, stronger, larger government enterprises regulating more business and industry, free higher education, publicly subsidized political campaigns, etc. They simply don't support those causes. Occasionally Democrat X or Y might support one or two of these, but never more than that. Why should I accept that my representative only represents a tiny, tiny portion of what I believe in?
It's All Fun And Games Until The Conservative Wins
So then we're told that if I do go and vote for a third party candidate, I'm wasting my vote and hurting the candidate that is at least left-leaning. I've got two questions about that: why does that barely leftist candidate deserve my vote? And, will she really represent me better than the slightly right-leaning candidate? People that make this statement also assume that I would vote for the Democrat in the first place, which at this point is no longer the case. If the Democrat does not support my views, I will find a candidate that does and vote for them. So it follows that ultimately that vote that I cast for my non-mainstream candidate does not harm the mainstream candidate's chances.
It Ain't Easy Being Green
Was I under any delusion that a Green Party candidate or other far left party candidate was going to win this last election? No. But I do believe that me voting for the candidate that I truly support will send a message that Democrats cannot count on my vote any longer until they are willing to support my views.
"But they can't do anything if they aren't in power," some say. To which I reply "Oh really? Look what the Republicans did the last two years!" Not only did they halt the government, but they went back to the drawing board and reassessed their platform. They listened to the far-right in their party and they assimilated that platform. And you know what? It worked for them! For now at least… it'll blow up in their faces in a couple years, but they won in the short term.
If the Democrats want my vote, they need to earn it. Stand up for me, fight for me, pass the legislation you said you would pass. Until then, I'm throwing my weight behind someone who will do those things.
1 comment:
Isn't it interesting how the Obama presidency has changed everything? I, too, listened to the voices of those telling me that not voting for a Democrat was to vote for a Republican. I, too, was angry at Ralph Nadar for giving us Geroge W in 2000. But, after Obama, I just can't salute smartly anymore. Obama has screwed us, and I helped give him the power to do that. I'm with you. If we accept our two-party system, that's all we'll ever have. Two choices are not enough. From now on, I'm voting for the candidate that best represents my views, regardless of his/her party.
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