Third parties

I don’t usually get into politics. Like I said, this election has a bit of a fear factor to it. Perhaps I was also looking for something a little different to write about. I might as well add a little info regarding my thoughts about this race. Specifically, what do I think about the third-party candidates?

Education is a hot topic for me. Jill Stein and Rocky Anderson both believe in taxpayers fully funding those who rely on the schools for their educations and discriminating against everyone who learns outside the confines of a restrictive schooling environment. Since they seem willing to waste unlimited money to fight true education, I can’t in good conscious support either one.

Between Johnson and Goode, it’s hard to really pick out a winner. Goode believes in cutting back immigration while Johnson actually seems interested in making it easier to immigrate to this over-populated nation. Goode also seems to be one of the most honest politicians that I have read or heard about, saying what he believes even if he knows his response will be unpopular. On the other hand, he also belongs to a party that tends to incorporate religion. He also seems a little too close in many of his beliefs to the right-wing extremists (despite starting off his political career as a democrat). Gary Johnson has a better history behind him, and I think that his general beliefs would likely be closer to mine.

Just voting for a third party has a few quirks. I started with the typical mentality that you would be throwing away your votes. After a little more thought, I decided that voting for any of them takes away votes against Obama (like anyone is really voting for Romney). In some ways, voting for a third party is the same as voting for our absolutely horrible president’s reelection.

I didn’t stick to that attitude. Is it really best support a candidate that you don’t like simply because better candidates don’t stand a chance? It might sound good, but I also believe that this mentality is contributing to the problem. Voting for one of the two parties in power because they have power is only going to ensure that they maintain their power. Perhaps supporting a third party isn’t such a bad idea after all.