My Candidate: None Of The Above
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A lot of potential voters are feeling the strain of the current primary battle going on between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.
Of course, Obama’s supporters are up in arms about the Clinton camp’s apparent racial comments, not to mention the apparent “slips of the tongue” that seem to be a regular part of Hillary’s stump speeches.
As well, Clinton’s supporters are up in arms about the apparent misogynistic comments coming from the Obama camp. Many even argue that Clinton deserves the Democratic nomination simply because she’s a woman (their argument is that sex should trump race in this election).
Then, there are those Democrats and Progressives who aren’t keen on either candidate, for whatever reason. Of course, they wouldn’t dream of ever voting for a Republican, particularly not John McCain. Many voters are also not keen on voting for relatively or veritably unknown third-party candidates, either.
Many people believe that voting for either a Democrat or a Republican is a sell-out vote, no matter how you cut it. They call it “voting for the lesser of two evils” and of course, that means, no matter how you vote, you are still voting for “evil”. And, there are a lot of people who are not down for voting for “evil”, but they still want their vote to be heard. Instead of “voting for the lesser of two evils”, they prefer to vote “None of the Above” or “NOTA”.
Why Bother Voting At All?
Voting “NOTA” may seem like a wasted vote to many in the electorate. Why bother voting, if you aren’t going to vote for the candidates presented on the ballot?
There is no law that says you have to vote for the candidates presented to you, but most times, a ballot has more than candidates on it. A lot of times, particularly during a general election, there are also initiatives and/or referendums to vote on (local issues that may affect future taxes or future actions that the government or citizens desire for the government to take). Those kind of ballot issues, because they are local and don’t require an individual voter to support a candidate that displeases them, allows an otherwise disinterested voter to actually vote “Yes” or “No” on a law. Voting “against” a candidate generally means voting “for” another candidate. If you don’t like either candidate, there is no other way to vote against them, except by writing in “NOTA” or voting for “NOTA”, if that is an available candidate slot.
Making “None of the Above” A Regular “Candidate” On Every Ballot
Some people feel so strongly about being able to vote “NO” on every candidate that they have formed an organization called CAMP (the Committee Against Mediocrity in Politics). They started the “Vote None of the Above campaign” to bring awareness to the idea that our electoral process has been “dumbed down” and has become a “serious threat to the ideals of American democracy”.
CAMP is actually calling for an Amendment to the US Constitution to add “None of the Above” to all federal election ballots. This would allow voters to choose NOT to vote for any candidates, if that is their desire. You can find more details at the official CAMP site.
Vote Your Conscience: Vote NOTA
There is nothing that says you must vote for any of the candidates listed on your ballot, if you choose to vote at all.
If voting Democratic, Republican, Independent or even third-party is not something that concerns you in the upcoming election, then more power to you. But, if not voting is not an option and if you want to protest the candidates that are dished out to you by the media, the corporate lobbyists, or voters who you might deem as “obedient sheeple” then it might suit your conscience to vote “None of the Above”.
Vote None of the Above (Richard Pryor - Brewsters Millions)
Pingback by test » Blog Archive » My Candidate: None Of The Above on 1 May 2008:
[...] Mr.Mayor wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptOf course, Obama’s supporters are up in arms about the Clinton camp’s apparent racial comments, not to mention the apparent “slips of the tongue” that seem to be a regular part of Hillary’s stump speeches. As well, Clinton’s supporters … Read the rest of this great post here [...]
Pingback by My new WordPress MU Site » Blog Archive » My Candidate: None Of The Above on 1 May 2008:
[...] Mr.Mayor wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptOf course, Obama’s supporters are up in arms about the Clinton camp’s apparent racial comments, not to mention the apparent “slips of the tongue” that seem to be a regular part of Hillary’s stump speeches. As well, Clinton’s supporters … [...]
Comment by haag on 2 May 2008:
NONE OF THE ABOVE is about as pathetically sophomoric as can be imagined. A puerile approach at best and one to be pursued only by a simpleton.
Comment by Dizzy Dezzi on 2 May 2008:
Thanks for you input, haag.
But voting “none of the above” is no more “sophomoric” or “simple” than voting for either of the usual suspects. Unless you are big money lobbyist, your vote for any of the two party candidates amounts to insanity. You know, doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome.
Let’s ask all those Democrats who voted, last November, in hopes of electing representatives to end the war in Iraq, how “sophomoric” they feel. Or, how about those Republicans who voted for Bush because he said “we aren’t the world’s police” and yet, we have invaded two countries on his watch and at least one of them was on false pretenses. How many Republicans feel like simpletons for having supported him?
One could do worse than voting “None of the Above”. They could vote for a candidate they don’t believe in at all. How sophomoric is that?
Comment by Management on 2 May 2008:
Stay Tuned this weekend, one of our Contributing Editors is going to interview someone seriously committed to giving a choice to those who voted and now feel let down.
Comment by Dizzy Dezzi on 3 May 2008:
I appreciate that people don’t agree with me. Seriously.
Generally speaking, as a Libertarian, I vote third-party, most of the time and many times I am beat about the head and face using the exact same arguments that you have used. But, your arguments are precisely why I have a) run for public office against members of the other two parties (literally putting my time and money where my mouth is) b) actively campaigned and supported other third party candidates. You can call it apathy, if you like, but my pocketbook and my hours of campaign trail wandering would beg to differ with you.
This is the first election in a long time where I didn’t feel any kind of allegiance with any candidate, not even in my own party. I believe that None of the Above is no less a “viable” candidate than a third party candidate (although, you and others would argue it’s a waste anyway).
Maybe I’m too cynical or jaded, but I can’t stomach voting for a candidate that I would vote for if the if they were the last candidate on earth, so I would rather vote “none of the above”. People may consider it a cop-out, but I consider it a cop-out that people would rather vote for one of two bad candidates, just because they have a (D) or an (R) besides their name.
If I had a dollar for every voter who said that they would vote for third party candidate but…then I would have easily been able to finance a more winnable campaign of my own.
I’m a little tired of people calling me apathetic or simple or whiny while they are still willing to vote for the status quo. How is that initiating change any more than how I choose to vote?
I have put my money and my time where my mouth is so I proudly stand by my post. But, I do appreciate your opinion. On this we will have to respectfully disagree.
Comment by Nathan on 3 May 2008:
NOTA should be a viable option on ALL ballots. Voting for NOTA is the only way that one can register a vote and STILL SHOW THAT THEY CARE ENOUGH TO PARTICIPATE IN THE SYSTEM.
What I cannot fathom is the mindset that says that we MUST vote for a candidate who we find inferior or even morally repugnant. THAT is asinine.
What other alternative? Not voting at all? That’s a wonderful idea…not even bother to register our dissatisfaction with the system. Nope..not an option. In the absence of a superior candidate, NOTA naturally recieves my vote.