06/07......Wasting Your Vote? D. Davenport



With the American election approaching again you are sure to hear a familiar slogan from a well-meaning and zealous politico of some stripe: "DONT WASTE YOUR VOTE."

This sort of advice is well-intentioned, of course, but since you're a big girl or boy I assume you have a mind of your own. And what better opportunity do you have to excercise those brain cells than to elect the most powerful woman in the world? Well, in the unlikely event that Hillary Clinton is not elected there are a few men to choose from.

The two-party system we've got here necessitates the quadrannual conundrum that keeps most of us awake into the wee hours of the morning as that September day approaches. "Which of these two clowns is the lesser of two evils" you ask yourself as you scoop out another bowlful of Orange Sherbet.

But you're a man or woman of options. Did you know that there are actually other candidates you can hang your chad for?

That's right, some of us even PREFER voting for third-party candidates. You'll never hear this reported on Dateline NBC but you would be fully within your Constitutional rights to vote for the Green Party no matter how much that might indicate some form of residual brain damage.

I, myself, have been voting for third-party candidates for twenty years and will continue to do so as long as neither major party candidate submits a written and enforceable plan to make the centralized government smaller instead of bigger.

This, in spite of the reality of an overwhelming previous force in my life known as the "denominational Pastor." You may be familiar with this phenomenon from your local pulpit. "DONT WASTE YOUR VOTE," they say after formerly stating that the pulpit is no place for politics.

Fortunately, there are a few of us who happen to love wasting our votes every four years. Its like buying that ancient Porsche with the "For Sale" sign out in front of the Trailer Park. You know you shouldn't do it but you just cant help yourself.

But there's a method to my madness. I haven't totally lost touch with reality. I already KNOW that whichever two-party candidate wins, the budget will become more unbalanced, we will fail to secure our own borders but certainly secure the borders of ANOTHER nation, and as a bonus be given a pack of promises with an expiration date shorter than a bowl of buttermilk.

I'm generally hated and despised as I admit publically that I've wasted my vote just after elections. But three years later that bumper sticker on the back of the ancient Porsche is SWEET. "Honk if you wasted your vote."

greenvillegrace@yahoo.com (864) 420-4347