One may easily guess by my avatar that I generally agree with Halx. One thing I think needs to be understood is this argument that one is voting for a candidate who can't win and/or that the small amount of support one's vote gives that party does not amount to much.
I'll put it this way: I don't believe voting for a third party candidate is something that simply takes place on Nov. 2. Third party supporters have a bit more work than that. What I mean to say is that I don't believe one can reasonably vote for a third party candidate tomorrow and not also push for voting reform.
I believe votes should be cast based on one's conscience, not on the lesser of two evils. Now, of those people who recognize that their conscience is most in line with a third party candidate, I believe that being guided by one's conscience in this regard requires further action. People are right to say that it is essentially impossible for a third party candidate to win this election. That doesn't mean I shouldn't vote for him though. It means I should vote for him and CONTINUE to push for voting reform so that, one day, we have a voting system that does not adhere to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duvergers_Law">Duverger's Law</a> and, furthermore, that eliminates most possibilities of tactical voting.
Listen, if you've looked at ALL the significant party candidates and their views objectively (I define "significant party" to be any party on enough ballots to win the election) and you find that one of the major party candidates best represents your views, then ote for that person. I think what Halx is getting at though is that there is an underlying reason why you end up supporting one of the major parties more often than not. One is because of the manipulation by them on the general public through numerous means. The other is due to various sources of socialization. However, I think that to any person who seriously looks at the stances available, the Green party is the natural progression of the ideals of the Democratic Party and the Libertarian Party is the natural progression of the ideals of the original Republican Party (more than 50-100 years ago, especially before the Christian Fundamentalists took it over).
aliali It's about not voting for 1) someone who is simply "not someone else" and 2) someone who is simply duping you in the hopes of gaining more power. If you honestly don't agree with any of the third parties more than the democrats or republicans, then don't vote for them. From my perspective though, I can't support candidates who are so blatently dishonest, not to mention that I really don't think the republican or democratic parties take their philosophies to their logical conclusions.