the (only) one about politics

Admittedly, neither Collin or I are particularly political.  This post isn't even going to advocate for a particular candidate or party.  Ha!  What kind of post is this, anyway?  Rather, this post is a bit more big picture.  It bothers me when people get their panties in a wad about only having two choices for president or any other position, so much so that they either (a) won't vote or (b) vote for someone/party who they don't even think will do a good job.  You know what?  THERE ARE MORE THAN TWO CHOICES, PEOPLE.  One of the choices (both a presidential candidate and her VP choice) even got arrested at the last debate.

Some say they don't want to throw their vote away by voting for someone who doesn't have a chance at the win.  You know what I say?  That sort of thinking is exactly what has kept us locked into our currently unsatisfactory two party system.  To me, a 1 in 50+ million vote for a Democratic or Republican presidential candidate that I don't even like is not nearly as valuable as my 1 in 6 million needed to bring another party into the game (6 million is around 5% of the vote).

How do I vote for someone else, you ask?  In Texas, our sample ballot for the 2012 election looks like this.  In addition to Republican and Democratic options you have Libertarians, the Green Party, and write-options.  There are only certain write-ins eligible due to Texas Laws about applying, for that list see here and google anyone you might be interested in.  Look up the Libertarian and Green Party options.  If you're not a Texas voter, your state government website should have similar information.  Do a little research during that hour or two you would normally spend on Facebook, ESPN, pinterest, or whatever this week.  In the internet age, the research is pretty easy.  Just quit whining and do something.

For more information on Texas elections, look here: http://www.sos.state.tx.us/elections/candidates/index.shtml