SPOILERS!! A Lesson in Mathematics for Third Party Voters

Due to overwhelming support being forced by my 15 yo daughter, I am resurrecting the blog.  I give you... Conservatism for Dummies....

 

Ok people, I have a math lesson for you. Candidate X is doing ok in the polls with 45%. Candidate Y is pretty close behind, with 40%. Candidate Q is a long shot with 15%. You usually vote X but you are mad at his party, however there is no way you would ever vote for Y. Q supports a lot of the same things you believe in and voting for him would make you feel like you were doing something important, different, special even. You are angry and you want to send the bums in power a message. Ok. Noble thoughts. But look again at the numbers. The top two are the only viable candidates. Q is great, and in the movies he would beat the pants off of X and Y, and get the girl to boot. But math operates in the real world, and really, Q doesn't stand a chance in a national or huge state race, no matter how awesome he is. Even Q's own party leaders are endorsing X. They know how the numbers work. They know that their second choice is better than their third choice. They know that if Q siphons off enough of X's base, it won't be Q that wins, it will be Y. Voting for Q might make you feel good about yourself, until you wake up the next morning and realize you just elected your LAST choice. That is the spoiler effect. That is what happened with Bush, Clinton, and Perot in '92. All those pissed off Bush supporters, who would NEVER have voted for Clinton in a million years, effectively elected him by 'firing' Bush and voting for Perot. I was one of those deluded idiots. I elected Clinton. I threw my little temper tantrum and did 'the right thing' and I sure showed them! didn't I!! Huffing and puffing and 'standing on principle' doesn't mean squat if the net effect is that YOU LOSE. Elections have consequences. Put on your big boy panties, do some thinking and then go vote on Tuesday.