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Here is a list of candidates Americans might vote for in 2008. My focus is on balancing the desire of the disillusioned for a protest vote with how your vote might actually be useful. For the people who ran in the major and third-party primaries visit United States Presidential primaries, 2008.
Contents |
Major candidates
- Democratic candidate: Barack Obama
- Pro: Would be an historic presidency. Would make great advances for civil liberties and technology use in the executive branch. Would legitimately clean up American politics.
- Con: Sucks up to Zionists. Endorses DINOs and backstabbing primary losers. Would continue U.S. interventionism for oil, the war on drugs, and support for the World Trade Organization.
- Republican candidate: John McCain
- Pro: Are you kidding me?
- Con: Washed-up, senile Bush heir. Doesn't know the difference between Sunnis and Shiites. Would make federal corruption far worse.
Solid reasons to vote Obama
If you are in a swing state (less than 5% margin on the eve of the election) your protest vote could put McCain in the White House. If this is the case I'd advise against it.
However, if you live in a solid Obama or McCain state, your vote could be more useful as a protest!
Solid reasons not to vote Obama
Obama would not take steps to free the U.S. from its two-party hegemony. All the third-party candidates would do that.
- Obama would not significantly cut the military budget. These candidates would.
- Ralph Nader, Chuck Baldwin, Bob Barr, Cynthia McKinney, Gloria La Riva, Brian Moore
- Obama would not end the federal ban on marijuana which works against state legislation. These candidates would.
- Ralph Nader, Chuck Baldwin, Cynthia McKinney, Gloria La Riva, Brian Moore
- Obama would not adopt single-payer health care. These candidates would.
- Ralph Nader, Cynthia McKinney, Gloria La Riva, Brian Moore
- Obama would not take strong steps to curb pollution. These candidates would.
- Ralph Nader, Cynthia McKinney, Gloria La Riva, Brian Moore
HOW TO VOTE
Check your list of candidates here:
http://www.thegreenpapers.com/G08/President-Details.phtml
If you've decided to vote 3rd party, check the candidate websites for your state, or my brief overviews below.
Third party candidates
Voting for a third party candidate can make a strong statement. If the two major parties combined can't scrape together 95 percent of the vote, your dissent will be noticed by the news media.
- Constitution Party: Chuck Baldwin
- Pro: Many Ron Paul supporters will vote for Baldwin as a substitute. He supports the entire Ron Paul platform, including returning abortion to the states and closing the borders.
- Con: The news media does not take that platform seriously. It is a somewhat extremist platform and may be only for Ron Paul diehards.
- Libertarian Party: Bob Barr
- Pro: Many Ron Paul supporters will vote for Barr as a substitute. The Libertarian party might sound slightly more legitimate than the far-right Constitution party. He supports a limited amount of the Ron Paul platform.
- Con: On domestic policies Barr is somewhat neoconservative. If you're going to compromise your principles to vote for the "reform" candidate, why not just vote Obama?
- Green Party: Cynthia McKinney
- Pro: The Green Party stands strong for sensible and liberal positions on many issues.
- Con: 9/11 conspiracy theorist. Widely ignored by Congress; your vote may be discounted by political insiders as uninformed.
Candidates below this header are on the ballot in fewer than 25 states
- [in roughly 16 states] Party for Socialism and Liberation: Gloria La Riva
- Pro: This socialist party supports many important lower-class issues like homelessness, prison reform, and the drug war.
- Con: This is a Wobbly spinoff party. They support Castro, the Tiananmen crackdown, etc. They even believe that the junta in Burma is somehow "better" than the U.S. They support reparations for black people (?!)
- [in roughly 13 states] Socialist Party USA: Brian Moore
- Pro: Equivalent to Green Party on many issues, but less crazy than McKinney.
- Con: Less prominent than the Green Party. Your vote will therefore have less of a noticeable impact.
- [in roughly 13 states] Socialist Workers Party: Róger Calero
- Pro: ?
- Con: The dude isn't qualified to be president-- he was born in Nicaragua. Who would throw their vote away like that?
- [in roughly 6 states] Prohibition Party: Gene Amondson
- Pro: Not hypocritical about the war on drugs.
- Con: Prohibition is a failed policy.
- [in roughly 2 states] Boston Tea Party: Charles Jay
- Pro: Liber...tarian?
- Con: Somewhat like a write-in vote except stupider.
- [in 2 states] Reform Party: Ted Weill
- Pro: ?
- Con: Bunch of idiots
- [in 2 states] America's Independent Party: Alan Keyes
- Pro: ?
- Con: Makes the Reform Party look sane
- [in 2 states] Objectivist Party: Tom Stevens
- Pro: Hilarious idea
- Con: They're serious
- Communist Party USA: endorsed Obama
Independent candidates
- Ralph Nader
- Pro: Has the media coverage to make an impact. Single payer health care.
- Con: You are more likely to be picked on by yellow dog Democrats if you vote for Nader. Voting for a small third party, on the other hand, will just confuse them.
- Ronald Gascon
- Pro: He sent me an e-mail :)
- Con: Write-in candidate; see below.
- More here: http://www.politics1.com/p2008.htm
One-state candidates
If you live in a few select states you will see special one-state parties.
- California Peace and Freedom Party: No candidate yet; likely to endorse Nader
- California American Independent Party: Endorsed Chuck Baldwin
- Colorado New American Independent Party: Frank McEnulty
- South Carolina United Citizens Party: Endorsed Barack Obama
- Utah Personal Choice Party: Charles Jay
Write-ins
Don't vote write-in if you're being pragmatic. Write-in votes get thrown out in most districts. They will almost certainly not be noted when the final results are reported.
If you hate the system so much you want to vote for your neighbor Bob, then by all means go ahead.
Some write-ins that might be expected this fall:
- Ron Paul. Ron Paul supporters are by and large voting Libertarian or Constitution party; see their entries above. Writing in Ron Paul will not have any real impact. If he's really the only one you could vote for, though, by all means vote your conscience.
- Hillary Clinton. A large number of Hillary write-ins might be newsworthy, but people who write in Hillary are idiots. If you want to be counted with the idiot vote go for this one.