Do voters still have a concience?

and I would submit to you, that if everyone who said this actualy voted for someone else, we would see a drmaticly different political landscape. every revolution starts with a single shot.

lol, sorry bout that. I consider a candidate viable if they are on a large number of state ballots. I am supporting the constitution party this election.

The revolution needed to start last year in the form of financial contributions to the independent candidates so that they could continue putting their message in front of the people across the country. Then they would have had the poll numbers to make them newsworthy. No one is going to waste their vote on someone with a single digit rating in the polls. But, you pulled a Palin on me so I'll ask you again. Is there a 3rd party candidate who you believe actually has a shot or are you just exercising your right to gripe?

"Obama/Biden doesn't respresent the dawn of a new day, and they aren't the answer to fixing what's wrong with this country. But they certainly seem a safer bet to run this country than McCain/Palin." THIS is why we don't have a 3rd, 4th and even 5th party at the for-front, THIS mentality. There is no "safer bet" now. I'm trying to knock people upside the head with this, they screwed us just as badly as the other side. They are not any "safer", same injuries, different weapons. I'm angry, FURIOUS, (lol, not at you in a personal fashion, sorry if i seem it)and I'm becomming even more enraged that people are drifting even further in to a fog of apathy. The answers are always the same. Lines like "Bush-Cheny were bad so I'm voting Obama, he's safer" I just wish people would realize there are more than 2 choices, instead of saying "yeh, we need a 3rd party in office" then mechanicly voting AGAIN for one of the 2 big choices. It's almost sureal.

Look, I'm angry too! You think I LIKE voting for the candidate who I think is least likely to destroy the country? But let's face it - we live in reality. And that reality is that either John McCain or Barack Obama will be the next president of the United States. Voting for Barr, or Nader, or even Mickey Mouse for that matter, is a waste of a vote. Why? At least two things: (A) lack of funding to support a major nationwide campaign, and (B) lack of exposure. If there were a third party candidate who shared my views and goals for this country more adequately than Obama (and that wouldn't be difficult to do), AND if I felt they had a legitimate opportunity to be elected, it would be a simple choice. The key to a third party is this: a group of mega-donors, I'm talking Gates/Walton/Buffett money. They put together a coalition, and strategically pick out 10-15 senate races and 30-50 house races. In each race, they find candidates who are centered and run as independents, and fund them very well. From a voting block of 10-15% of the house and senate, you can command a lot. And it grows from there. After a couple of election cycles, your numbers in the house and senate are equal to those of the two parties, and you've accumulated some governorships and donations to create more of a nationwide infrastructure of your party. From the ranks of your senators and governors, you now have your presidential candidate. That way you've got the White House AND congressional support.

I have to agrea with you on several points. It is on congress we can make the most difference, nationaly. I apply my electorial philosophy to all ofices, and at every level, local, state and national. And yes, again, in agreament, it is all about the money. BUT....and it is a BIG BUT....look at what ROn paul was able to do juston internet funding alone, though it did nothing on the national scale, imagine what the same technique applied at the congressional level could do. there are no laws forbidding the funding of a congressional candiate outside your district. As you said, only 10 to 15% would do the trick, if we wrote off the rest and forced efforts to that 10 to 15%, imagine the difference it could make. Another point I would like to make is that people far too often are so hyper focused on the national elections, that they vote half heartedly in the state elections. We are still a federation, the states still have a great deal of power, but it is waining because of neglect. If we can retain this and grow it back to what it should be, then we can effectively render the federal government to it's proper place of minimalism.

I don't know that I'd call Baldwin frightening, I chose him because of his support for state's rights and a host of other issues that are important to me. More over, it's a vote of concience than anything. i realize he isn't going to win, but after last week, I cannot in good concience vote for either McCain or Obama, their votes in the senate for that shafting of the tax payer and assult on an already crippled monetary system was just too much.

I don't realisticly expect to alter this election or a 3rd party to make a difference this year. but like I've said before, it has to start somewhere. Imagine if the internet had been as integrated in to our lives 10 years ago as it is now. I don't feel I'm wasting my vote at all and for me, what I felt may have been the lesser of the evils became just as much of an evil as the other. This last week was a tipping point for me.

Well I'm glad that you have someone to support. I hope I didn't give you the impression that I thought I was wasting my vote because I honestly don't, I just want a candidate that is somewhat close to my perfect imagine of what I want in a candidate. I want someone who cares about the planet we live on, equal rights for all not just hetros, smart, easy going wants peace not war and that doesn't mean let everyone attack this nation, so is that all that much to ask? lol