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.
