Besides, picking the better lizard is harder than it looks. In 2000, the comic Melonpool showed a character pondering, “Bush or Gore… Bush or Gore… it’s like flipping a two-headed coin.” Well, how were they supposed to know? In 2000, based on history, it seemed to me that the Republicans were generally less interventionist and therefore less harmful than the Democrats, so I pondered whether to vote for Bush to prevent Gore from getting in. Yet it seemed to me that the barriers to keep out third parties were a raw power grab, and that I was therefore obliged to vote for third parties wherever possible, to penalize the Republicrats for getting grabby. And so I voted Libertarian, though I don’t consider myself one (at least not with a big “L”). I’m glad I didn’t do the “sensible” thing. Less blood on my hands.
I see. Were you similarly at a loss to distinguish the two parties in the 2004 and 2008 elections? It’s one thing to say that you can’t tell the difference and quite another to insist that nobody could have and we were all fools for voting. Maybe you just weren’t paying attention.
Cf. “Stop Voting for Nincompoops” (2008):
...and that’s still my reply, but you could vote it up if you want me to repeat it on video. :)
I see. Were you similarly at a loss to distinguish the two parties in the 2004 and 2008 elections? It’s one thing to say that you can’t tell the difference and quite another to insist that nobody could have and we were all fools for voting. Maybe you just weren’t paying attention.
No.
Until Obama, I’ve never voted for anyone who won a presidential election. (I voted for Nader in 2000 and Kerry in 2004.)