mo42

Man, I'd back up SM70, but he's saying everything that I'd say, and probably better. By voting for the Libertarians, I am making them seem like a more viable party. Either one of the two major parties could pick up some of the Libertarian platform (SOMEBODY better become fiscally responsible) or more and more people can just start voting Libertarian until we win some big positions in Congress or the Senate.

Disgruntled Illinoisans for Badnarik! RAAWWWRRR!!!

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It's not getting what you want, it's wanting what you've got.

Ustwo

I live in Illinois as well and the Republican party of Illinois is run by chipmonks or at best ground squirrels. If I voted libertarian it would change nothing here.

On the other hand I do not with the Libertarian party to gain any sort of acceptance at this time. Its just simple math, lets say 5% of the vote in non swing states when to Libertarians. That would get it noticed, perhaps others would bandwagon, but its my belief that NEVER would enough bandwagon to get a libertarian elected to the Whitehouse.

Just enough would to prevent a Republican from getting it, leaving us with a Democrat which is much further away from Libertarian than a Republican.

Perhaps this would be good for the Libertarian party, but I don't give a rats ass about parties, I care about ideas, and moral victory is another way of saying defeat.

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Agents of the enemies who hold office in our own government, who attempt to eliminate our "freedoms" and our "right to know" are posting among us, I fear.....on this very forum. - host

Obama - Know a Man by the friends he keeps.

SecretMethod70

This is why, IMO, every responsible citizen who has any problem whatsoever with both parties should be educating themselves about and working towards voting reform. Currently, Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. is proposing to do it the wrong way. Depending on how close and how much of a mess this election is, enough people may pressure congress to do SOMETHING, and right now they and most people are leaning towards doing the wrong thing.

I made a thread regarding this and why <a href="http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/showthread.php?t=73366">Instant Runoff Voting is the wrong solution</a> in an effort to raise awareness of its problems and the alternatives to it. Looking at how close this election may be, it is absolutely necessary that we start now to fight for proper voting reform that is fair and scientifically sound.

If you like third parties, or even if you'd just like to have more choice but are not sure about what's out there, it is imperitive that we start contacting our representatives to tell them to vote against Instant Runoff Voting and that they begin pushing for either Approval or, preferably, Condorcet voting. These two methods go far beyond IRV and plurality (our current method) in preventing spoilers and allowing choice.

Don't just point out how voting your conscience would hurt your preferred outcome if enough people did, do something to stop that from happening next time around! And that means telling our congressmen NOT to vote for IRV, because it has the same flaws as plurality, only while being under the guise that it's better.

An excellent place to start educating yourself on the various options for voting reform is www.electionmethods.org - www.wikipedia.org is decent at providing information as well.

Others are:
http://www.approvalvoting.org
http://condorcet.org/
http://www.eskimo.com/~robla/politics/condorcet.html

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Le temps détruit tout

"Musicians are the carriers and communicators of spirit in the most immediate sense." - Kurt Elling

mbaha

But they just turned your horse into glue
mbaha

xepherys

Bruised-

I also voted for Badnarik... but frankly, I voted a split-ticket of mostly Libertarians.