Well, I can and I have. It gets you on some pretty strange mailing lists, but you do what has to be done. Nonetheless, I'm not going to do it this time. (Michael over at Musing's Musings is probably fuming into his morning coffee. Sorry, dear one.) I'm going to vote for the Green Party candidate, Rich Whitney. This little burg isn't Los Angeles or Portland or even Madison, Wisconsin. The Green Party here is slightly... invisible. Actually, it's nonexistent; invisible would be an improvement.
Yet when I read the literature and listen to the speeches, I hear something different -positions I can affirm rather than merely tolerate. Social justice, diversity, universal health care, feminism, community based economics.... I'm sold.
Am I throwing away my vote -tacitly supporting Blagojevich? I don't know. Maybe. Okay, probably. But for right now, I'm rejecting the "lesser evil" strategy of voting (which I've done many a time, and it's never worked out well) and opting for something a little more positive. Besides, those of you who know me know that I have a long-standing fondness for lost-but-lovely causes. The Green Party deserves a bigger voice in Illinois politics. So, I'll do what I can.
Tags: activism Green Party
3 comments:
Fuming? Hardly. I'm voting for Pat Quinn for governor, and skipping Blagorgeous altogether. Whitney is too much of an unknown quantity for me to consider propelling him into the highest office in the state.
I know where you're at, Andrea. In our Senate race, here in NW Florida, we have Bill Nelson, D-in name only, running against Repug Katherine Harris. Remember her? She and Jeb (George's bro) put the king on the throne in 2000. Nelson has voted consistantly with the President. Like you said, the lesser of two evils. I plan on squandering my vote on a man named Brian Moore. Although he's running as an Independent, he has been endorsed by the Green Party. Who knows.....maybe it won't be squandered.
I think you are in the same boat with many of us would-like-to-be Democrats. "Our" party has not made much of a show of opposing the status quo. They say the Republicans stink, but they don't offer a viable alternative. They try to hedge their bets by appearing to be more "Republican light" than anything else.
Still, so often races are too close to risk electing a Repug by casting a vote for an independent or third-party candidate who appears to better align with our personal politics. Sometimes the lesser of two evils is the best you can do.
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