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May the best man win

Minor political parties are popular things these days—they're just not popular enough for anyone to vote for. The Green, Natural Law, and Reform Parties are gaining steam, slowly but surely—and they're giving people reasons to get interested in politics again. Faced with the fresh perspectives of "outsider" candidates, voters are fast becoming disenchanted with the GOP and Democratic machines. Even those who've been alienated from presidential elections for years have found a glimmer of hope in these political challengers. Everybody loves an underdog, but the feeling soon fades. It's a fleeting love affair. The romantic is snapped back into reality with a harsh command:"Don't waste your vote on the losers." How naïve is the citizen who actually votes for the candidate he wants to win!

Our pragmatic and politically savvy friends tell us to vote defensively—not to throw away our vote in this oh-so-important election which might end up being oh-so-close. They claim defensive voting to be mere prudence, but what this practice really provides is a reason to settle for mediocrity. Voting not for the best candidate but for the second-worst candidate gives us an excuse to have low expectations. It becomes a race to the bottom, and soon enough the second-worst candidate will look little different from the worst. At the end of the day, all we'll have is political drudgery. The way to win elections, it seems, is not by being right but by being less horrid. This is the ugly world that defensive voting creates. But won't it be the same, these friends ask, when your lost cause loses? Might it be even worse?

A passage from T.S. Eliot comes to mind. "We fight for lost causes because we know that our defeat and dismay may be the preface to our successors' victory, though that victory itself will be temporary; we fight rather to keep something alive than in the expectation that anything will triumph." More important than the ephemeral victories of politics are the motivations that keep our eyes on the prize. Voting for the lesser evil will dull our senses, and pretty soon we won't know what causes are actually right. You might lose now, but you might win later—and you'll never win if you don't take the risk.

A common pressure point is the future of the Supreme Court. The next president will have the powerful opportunity to appoint a large portion of the Court, replacing the aging members who are near retirement. This power makes the election all the more lasting in its effects. Advocates of defensive voting also point out the pure horror we'd feel if the worse major-party candidate were to win in November. They say that the election will be far too close, so we should reconcile ourselves to the lesser evil. These advocates may even say that we are committing some heroic sacrifice for the good of the country.

Supporters of defensive voting claim that all they are asking of us is to "take this election seriously and act reasonably." It seems everyone has become a pundit, caring more about managing public opinion than voting to win the White House. When it comes to the Supreme Court, the defensive voter should remember that there are constitutional checks that might serve to console him. If the executive branch had all the power in government, there might be some reason to be scared—but it doesn't, and there isn't. The Senate can review the appointments, and if the senators don't appoint who you want, don't re-elect them. This option might come off as a bit too sober for the defensive voter, already worried about the political apocalypse that lies in store. But he should remember that democracy requires a certain level of trust. Democratic government demands an austere faith in the process and a willingness to endure. You lose some elections, you win some; that really doesn't matter in the end. What counts is that you voted for the best candidate, that you acted in good faith. The defensive voter cares too much about politics and too little for principle, but you can't have the former without the latter.

Your vote is one of the few things in the world which is wholly yours. Don't let it get contaminated with the machinations of pundits or the threats of throngs. To do otherwise is the real waste. Keep it yours and yours alone. Keep it real, man. Keep it real.

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