How to vote for “None of the Above” – and not waste your vote!

Americans are fed up with their political / economic system. They see that it serves the wealthy, not them. The problem facing them is that the two major parties both represent the current system, and the political process offers no choice and no means of change. As independent candidate Ralph Nader observed recently, the two parties have converged so much so that they are practically indistinguishable.

The present financial systems (money and banking, tax, trade and public finance) are profoundly flawed, and have brought the country to economic and social ruin. Government policies of growth-based economics, massive international free trade (globalization), mass immigration and open borders have destroyed the environment and degraded the quality of life for the middle class. Although the American people are disgusted with the present system, they are very frustrated – it appears that with two strong pro-system parties in charge, it is impossible to change the system. It seems that no matter how bad things get, the system continues and there is no alternative. The country is in a desperate crisis, and needs more than meaningless calls for “change” to save it.

Prior to the 2006 mid-term election, many people were heard to say that they were going to vote against the incumbents, whoever they were, as a sign of protest. This effort was evidently successful, since the Democrats gained control of Congress in that election. Within a few months, however, people were complaining that nothing had changed. The public’s opinion of Congress remained as low as it was before the elections. It became clear that replacing one of the two major parties with the other accomplishes nothing. The Democrats and the Republicans both serve the current system, and have brought the country to ruin. Neither party will be the agent of change to fix what is wrong with America.

Increasingly, you hear people state that they don’t intend to vote for either candidate of the two major parties – that they will vote for “none of the above.” Since these people probably are not committed to a third-party candidate, this probably means either of two things: (1) they will not vote for either of the two major candidates; or (2) they will randomly select any other candidate on the ballot. If they do either of these two things, however, their vote is wasted. The “none of the above” votes of the disenchanted electorate will be spread evenly over the third-party candidates, and their vote will count for nothing.

The major parties are urging undecided and dissatisfied voters not to vote for third-party candidates, or they will “waste their vote.” Recently, Texas Congressman Ron Paul urged voters to reject both Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain and vote for a third-party candidate instead.

The four leading third-party parties are the Constitution Party (Chuck Baldwin for President), the Libertarian Party (Bob Barr for President), the Green Party (Cynthia McKinney for President) and Ralph Nader / Matt Gonzalez (Ralph Nader for President). Because of the closeness of the race between the two major candidates, it seems clear that if the votes for all four of the third-party candidates were pooled together, the total number of votes would almost certainly determine which of Obama and McCain became president (by drawing more votes away from one than from the other). If all of the third-party votes were cast for the same third-party candidate, it is conceivable that the total votes could actually win the election (recall that Ross Perot got 19 percent of the popular vote in the 1992 presidential election – and people are a lot more upset now than they were then).

So here’s the pitch. We do not have a parliamentary system in the United States, so only the winning candidate remains after the election process is finished. If you are dissatisfied with the two major political parties and would like to promote the possibility that a third party might win the election, then cast your vote for a designated party. So what party is the “designated” party? I have reviewed the platforms of the third parties listed above. While all of them have some good points, and while I am not in full accord with any of them, it seems to me that the Constitution Party’s platform calls for change in the right direction for the present time, and that Chuck Baldwin has the energy, judgment, determination, integrity, affability and presence to be an effective president and leader.

Make your vote count! Vote for the Constitution Party and for Chuck Baldwin for president!

Joseph George Caldwell ( jcaldwell9@yahoo.com , http://www.foundationwebsite.org )

(File: NoneOfTheAbove.doc, 11 September 2008.)