by Andy » Oct 2, 2004 @ 10:15pm
The libertarian philosophy is a minority position. So why bother voting? Even if all libertarian leaning people voted LP, they still wouldn't clench the whitehouse. Not even close. So why should a would-be libertarian voter waste his/her time to vote?
There's zero benefit to voting LP. The party is going to have a marginal showing at best. I'd imagine that less than 10% of the population, probably less than 7% of the swing voters, know what the LP is. And of that very small pool of people who even know what the LP is, I doubt even a quarter of them would consider voting libertarian.
Cost of voting LP: 0.5-2 hours of my time / a couple bucks in gas and depreciation on my car.
Benefit of voting LP: virtually zero.
Who is really stupid? The person who votes LP, or the person who doesn't "throw their vote away"?
Even if the LP achieved its theoretical maximum number of votes, the best case scenario would be for the GOP to take notice and adjust its platform a little towards liberty. And, even with that, the LP is still a fairly radical party. Trying to capture some of the LP vote would probably cost the GOP more swing voters than it'd gain them.
In conclusion, no real point in voting LP for a presidential election. It isn't, and never will be, a viable mainstream political platform.
If you're refusing to vote for either Bush/Kerry, you may as well just not vote. I.e., vote for yourself -- don't waste your time.
Or maybe feign political interest to hookup with a girl. That might make it worth the time.
If you really want to live under libertarian ideals, you'd better find some like-minded people and go buy an island somewhere. That's about the only way it's happening.