re: "but it has a nasty habit of not making any difference whatsoever in the actual election results."
Poor logic there, Beldin. When's the last time one of your votes DID make the difference in an actual election?
Moreover, what's the point in making the difference if your vote elects a person who doesn't represent your views?
re: "if you are possibly suggesting Ron Paul"
I'm not. My point wasn't to promote Ron Paul. If it was, I'd have said quite clearly "VOTE FOR RON PAUL."
I'll make that recommendation some other time. Not now.
My advice is to vote for someone who represents you. Screw the support you've been giving those who don't but belong to your club. Think of your vote as a vote of confidence, telling your party "THIS GUY IS WHAT I WANT."
You can be assured that if you hate someone but help elect him anyway, you'll be getting more such candidates in the future.
Until voters start supporting the candidate they like, and not the club, mediocre politicians and worse will be all we ever get.
Finally, I believe that my rogue vote this Fall will have MORE impact than your hive vote for Mitt Romney. After all, by the time of the election, odds are VERY good that you will already know who is going to win. Unless you're in one of the few swing states, your vote for either Obama or Romney will be utterly meaningless.
But my vote for someone different will help inspire future candidates to take up similar positions in future elections.
Consider your 2008 vote for, I presume, John McCain. You HAD to know when you were casting it that it was a waste of time. But MY write-in for Ron Paul? It carried many times the weight of yours, and it is part of the reason he's so much more influential in 2012. It is part of the reason we now have Senator Rand Paul, btw, who you just said you like. And a whole bunch of tea party/pro-constitution candidates. They know they can have an impact, that a considerable and growing number Americans passionately support the positions of a nearly unknown 2008 candidate.
I do like Rand. Tremendously. I donated to his Senate campaign in 2010. If he adheres to as many of his father's views as I think he will, I expect I'll be campaigning for him in future Presidential elections - and these days, I don't lightly lend my support to anyone.
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