[I.A.S.K.]

Originally Posted by KAPital PHINUst

Because I feel the candidate in question is the best qualified. That is supposed to be the true reason of why you vote. No other criteria should matter when you vote. NONE!

If no other criteria mattered when people voted the electoral college would not be necessary. So, if a person is best qualified and also a staunch supporter of the KKK and an extreme white supremist everyone should vote for him/her because he/she is the best qualified? And what do your qualifications matter if you can't win?

So are you saying that I'm supposed to throw my desire to have a true Consitutional-based and bound nation through our national leadership in the trash for the sake of voting for something or someone I don't believe in?

No, I don't think she is saying that but I do think that she is saying that you are throwing your desire away by voting for someone who will not be elected President. And if Ron Paul is your standard then one of the two likely to be president would have more beliefs in common with you and Ron than the other and that would be the one you in some ways believe in (and the one that will bring the nation closer to where you want to see it).

Unlike a lot of voters, I vote with my heart, not with my head. Meaning, I don't analyze any extraneous factors other than which candidate's stance on the issues are most compatible with mine.

Yet another reason we have the electoral college. Extraneous factors are some of the most important factors when it comes to voting. It is the unexpected challenges and how you deal with them that matter most in this world. I must analyze these factors because they will help me to determine how I believe a candidate will act as president to protect this nation and its interest and how that candidate will truly go about upholding the constitution. When the financial crisis hit John McCain ran around like a chicken with its head cut off trying to get something, anything done and failed. He suspended his campaign which to me showed that he does not have the ability to remain stable and in control when things go wrong. This is further proven by his desire to have a spending freeze (which is completely misaligned with my needs as a college student with federal loans). The spending freeze is like calling time-out when you're about to become "It" in a game of tag. Its total crap and wont work. Even I know that when the economy is down government spends money to bring it back up. Basic economics. So, McCain's "extraneous factors" coupled with his stance on this issue disqualify him to me. You can tell more about a man from observing his life and his life choices than you can just listening to his words. A candidate can get up and lay out a stance that is 100% aligned with your beliefs, but his body language could scream "I'm lying" and he could be married to someone who has completely opposite beliefs. Since these two things are extraneous you would ignore them. I would not.

Because voting for the lesser of two evils is still voting for evil. That's like asking why don't you eat the food containing 50% arsenic over the food containing 100% cyanide. Poison is poison.

Yes, poison is poison. Which dose of poison are you going to get? If it is guaranteed that one version of poison will be administered to you then why wouldn't you vote for the lesser of the two poisons? Why would you allow others to choose which poison you shall recieve? That is what constitutes throwing away your vote. I'll vote for 50% arsenic (if I know I have a 50% chance of survival) over 100% cyanide (which is sure death) because I'd rather control the amount of poison I get than let someone else decide my death or possible life.

And I'll be slammed if I allow my vote to further the cause of tyranny and fascism in the United States, because I will be responsible in aiding and abetting the enemies of liberty. Consequently, Constitutionally speaking, that makes me an enemy of the state by default.

Well, one of the two major candidates is neither a tyrant nor a fascist. So, there's no need to worry.

As far as throwing away a vote goes I have done it. I did it when I voted last week. There was only one candidate to select and I did not like that candidate. My dislike was enough for me to write in the candidate I preferred or not vote at all for that position. In these cases the seats are local seats and the people do not have beliefs that I disagree with, they were just horrible people.