I Can't Throw My Vote Away (and other fallacies)

'I Can't Throw My Vote Away!'

I hear this lament from prospective voters all the time. They use it as justification for holding their nose and voting for a front-running candidate who really doesn't share their values or ideology (re: McCain).

The argument goes something like this: If I vote for the candidate I really agree with but is polling poorly, I will be enabling a more sinister candidate to win. Therefore, I must choose his rival with whom I have little agreement.

There is an axiom from Ayn Rand that says something like: If you feel the need to compromise, then recheck your assumptions. The assumption here is that your single, solitary, individual vote will actually impact the outcome. That assumtpion is unequivicably false!

No election of significance was EVER determined by a single vote. None. Therefore, the impact of your single vote is zero, zip, zilch! By voting for the 'lesser of evils' You are not being 'strategic'. You are not aiding your cause. In fact, the only compromise you are achieving is to compromise YOUR values and ideology.

Furthermore, you are enabling a monolithic political system that thrives by squashing challenges through this very process- by tricking you into compromising what you believe in! Bastardizing our beliefs by voting 'strategically' is a very undemocratic process. No election is determinable by you and your 1 puny, meaningless vote. Strategic voting is pointless and irrational.

In the spirit of democracy and for the preservation of your integrity, vote your conscience!