"Little do they realize that they
have once again been duped by the Wasted Vote Lie. It is a deliberate,
carefully crafted fable concocted and perpetrated by the Democratic and
Republican duopoly to maintain their stranglehold on power. They cleverly
employ the propaganda trick of tyrants throughout the ages; if you repeat
a lie loud enough and often enough eventually people will believe
it."
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Op Ed: The Wasted Vote Lie
by R. Lee Wrights*
*"Let each citizen remember at the moment he is offering his vote
that he is not making a present or a compliment to please an individual
-- or at least that he ought not so to do; but that he is executing one
of the most solemn trusts in human society for which he is accountable to
God and his country." *- Samuel Adams, in the *Boston Gazette*,
1781
BURNET, Texas (July 12) - Every election Libertarians are invariably
confronted with the charge that a vote for a Libertarian candidate is a
wasted vote. The accuser claims that if you really wanted limited
government you should vote for the candidate who has a chance of winning
-- the Republican. In some rare cases, the assertion may be that if you
really wanted to protect civil liberties you'd vote for the candidate who
has a chance of winning -- the Democrat. And yet, our liberty goes
unprotected as government grows unimpeded.
To my utter astonishment, this bogus argument invariably causes some
genuine freedom-loving people to betray their stated beliefs. Why do they
leap from the Ship of Principle into the stormy Sea of Compromise at the
very moment their strength, courage and resolve are needed the most? Only
one thing makes a person abandon everything they've ever believed in and
fought for -- desperation, the feeling that all is lost and the best one
can do is choose the lesser of two evils. Even telling them that voting
for the lesser of two evils is still voting for evil doesn't seem to
dissuade them from their decision.
Little do they realize that they have once again been duped by the Wasted
Vote Lie. It is a deliberate, carefully crafted fable concocted and
perpetrated by the Democratic and Republican duopoly to maintain their
stranglehold on power. They cleverly employ the propaganda trick of
tyrants throughout the ages; if you repeat a lie loud enough and often
enough eventually people will believe it.
The worst thing about voting for the "lesser of two evils" is
that it actually has the opposite effect of what it's intended to do.
Winning candidates don't know, they don't want to know -- and frankly
don't care -- why people vote for them. They certainly don't know and
don't care how many of the votes they got were so-called protest votes.
All they want is enough votes to win. They'll consider all the votes they
get as an endorsement of their campaign promises or past performance to
claim a "mandate from the people."
The news media aid and abet in this subterfuge when, with a Cheshire cat
smile, they ask Libertarian candidates, "You know you can't win, so
why are you running?" They don't want a meaningful response because
their intent is to divert the conversation away from any discussion of
substantive issues. Their purpose is to marginalize the Libertarian so
they can justify treating the campaign as a sideshow to be covered only
for the entertainment value.
The Wasted Vote Lie is often accompanied by another big lie, that your
vote for a Libertarian candidate "takes away" votes from the
Republican or Democrat. Let's call this allegation what it is -- pure and
unadulterated arrogance. The ruling elites believe your vote belongs to
them and that you're too ignorant, or too stupid, or too uninformed to
use it wisely. The Wasted Vote Lie and all its variations is an obvious
and clear symptom of the condition Republicans and Democrats fear the
most -- an independent, thinking voter.
Let me be clear: there is no such thing as a wasted vote. Your vote
belongs to you, and no one else. It doesn't belong to the Republican or
Democratic Party, or any party or candidate for that matter. Your vote is
your voice; it is one of your unnamed, inalienable rights, the ultimate
_expression_ of your right to free speech and self-government. Your vote is
the most precious and meaningful gift you can give to any candidate. Your
vote is worth more than any amount of money or any number of volunteer
hours you may give, which is why politicians lust after it so hungrily.
Your vote cannot be wasted, or stolen, or lost - unless you make a
decision to do so.
There is no such thing as a wasted vote; even a vote you refuse to cast
is not wasted. Restrictive ballot access laws are another device created
by the reigning political parties to stifle competition and maintain
their grip on power. Your decision not to give the gift of your vote to
either of the "two evils" you're given to choose from is in
effect casting a vote for free choice. Just as millions of people fled
Communist tyranny in Eastern Europe following World War II, many people
who choose to stay home on Election Day are "voting with their
feet."
Win or lose, voting isn't about picking a winner. Voting is about
exercising your conscience. Elections aren't generally decided by one
vote. Giving your vote to a candidate you don't agree with in the hope
that he will do something you like, just because you like his opponent
even less, is like giving money to a drunk on the street who asks for
money for something to eat. You know he's just going to buy more booze;
he can't help himself.
While one vote usually won't decide an election, if enough people vote
for a principle the effect will be much greater and will be cumulative
election after election. One person can't clean up the environment, or
even clean up a highway alone. But if a number of people each pick up one
piece of trash along the road, they can make that highway, a small
portion of the larger environment, significantly cleaner.
In the same way, if enough people vote for a candidate on principle they
can make a difference even if their candidate doesn't win. They can send
a clear message to the establishment, to the ruling elite, that
"Enough is enough." In the 1984 presidential election,
Libertarian presidential candidate David Bergland gave this response to
the "wasted vote" question, "If everyone who is fed up
with what the Democrats and Republicans have been doing to them for the
past several decades were to vote for me, I would win in a
landslide." The same can be said about every Libertarian
presidential candidate since.
The goal of this campaign is to offer people the opportunity to cast
their vote for something, not against something; to vote for what they
want, not against what they don't want. We want to give people the chance
to present the gift of their vote to a party and a candidate who
represents their principles, their ideals, their aspirations and their
hopes. We want to empower people to send a clear and simple message to
Democrats and Republicans that they will no longer tolerate deception and
deceit, arrogance and power-grabbing. This campaign is dedicated to the
goal that in 2012 every person who sincerely believes in liberty and
freedom, and who is outraged by the perpetual and infinite wars
fabricated by Republicans and Democrats for the sole purpose of
instilling fear and expanding their power, will reject the Wasted Vote
Lie and send a loud, clear and unequivocal message to both parties to
stop all war.
"Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, and you may
cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost." --
John Quincy Adams
R. Lee Wrights, 53, a libertarian writer and political activist, is
seeking the presidential nomination because he believes the Libertarian
message in 2012 must be a loud, clear and unequivocal call to stop all
war. To that end he has pledged that 10 percent of all donations to his
campaign will be spent for ballot access so that the stop all war message
can be heard in all 50 states. Wrights is a lifetime member of the
**Libertarian Party
<http://lp.org/>**
and co-founder and editor of of the free speech online magazine **Liberty
For All
<
http://libertyforall.net/>**. Born in Winston-Salem, N.C., he now
lives and works in Texas.*
*Lee Wrights for President
<
http://www.wrights2012.com/>* Contact: *Brian Irving
<[email protected]>*, press secretary *[email protected]*
919.538.4548
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