MA is going to Kerry, why should I vote Bush instead of my mind?
Well, I live in California, so it doesn't matter who I vote for, the electoral votes will go to the Democrat.
I can kind of buy into this, the idea of "well Bush positively can't win in my state, so I'm going to use my vote as a wake up call to the Republicans" except for two things.
1. How can you be so sure Bush has lost your state ? (High Roaders living in Massachusetts are excluded from this question.) In the last ten years I've seen a lot of polls that are off, usually slanted towards the Democrats. Is this a case of people changing their minds or coming off the fence at the last moment to vote Republican ? Or is this a devious effort by the media to get the Libs to vote Lib or to get the Republican voters to stay home in what is actually a close election but is presented as a "done deal" ? Or is this a devious effort by the media to get Democrat voters out to vote to pile on to a perceived landslide ? I'd sure hate to read the newspaper the morning after the election and discover that I'd been snookered by the liberal media.
2. If Kerry wins by a margin of 10% instead of 4% of the popular vote, he and the media are going to be spitting out the word "mandate" every other sentence as justification for all sorts of liberal horrors (
did I hear "HUD agreement" ?).
I have much more respect for a Democrat that stands up for what they believe in and votes for Kerry then a Libertarian that sells themselves out for the "lesser of evils."
Only an utter lack of moral principle can justify voting for a "lesser evil".
What I believe in is the Right to Keep and Bear Arms. And I believe that a vote for Bush will further the protections of those rights more than any other voting option I have. The Libertarian Party and Constitution Party and any other third party do not have a patent on that right; if a vote for Bush means a better RKBA, then that is the correct vote and is certainly not a sell-out. My allegiance is to the cause, not to any party.
One problem: the presidential vote is about much more than just RKBA issues.
Sure it is; I'm addressing this issue only from an RKBA standpoint. But, the items you bring up are 1) insignificant compared to losing Second Amendment rights, and 2) in most cases not Bush's fault at all or are falsehoods invented and propagated by the media, and 3) not anything that Kerry would do better. You're in way over your head if you think you can convince many people on this site that those are real issues and not bs invented by the media. You would do better to try and fly that banner over some site for Hollywood entertainers, television "journalists", or the funny people who think guns "just go off" by looking at them. All you can do on this site is make yourself irrelevant.
I'm gonna make 'em re-register me Independent.
Exactly the wrong thing to do. Stay registered as a Republican and then use your influence and vote in the Republican Primary to get someone nominated who is as pro-RKBA as possible. We have to nip these things in the bud, not wait to get involved until after nominees have been picked and then complain that we don't have a choice.
Work from inside an established party.
I believe this is the correct approach. Libs: your chances of changing America in the libertarian image are much better if you infiltrate the Republicans and then get your candidates elected and your ideas accepted (e.g. Ron Paul) than trying to create enough critical mass as a third party. You'll be leveraging off their numbers, money, and popular acceptance. It worked for the Socialists and the Democratic party.
For those of you not registered to vote yet, it's not too late. Kindly mosey over to this informative and useful little thread
http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?threadid=86202