There are lots of reasons why you might have voted for Darrell Castle. Plenty of them are good. Support for separation of powers, limited government, etc. All of these are good things. I want to address some of the bad reasons you might have voted for him:
- An attempt to keep your hands clean by not voting for the lesser of two evils does not result in clean hands. You voted for the lesser of three evils. Get off your high horse and engage in the question of strategy, or withdraw from politics entirely.
- It is not a badge of honor to vote in such a way that you can always say “Don’t blame me, I didn’t vote for him.” Refusing to vote for Trump and voting for Castle instead was not an active vote for Clinton, but it certainly was an active removal of a vote for Trump. Don’t be a Millenial. If you’re old enough to vote, you’re old enough to take some responsibility for your actions.
- Claiming that your vote won’t make a difference anyway doesn’t give you any actual reason to vote for Castle. If you truly believe that, you shouldn’t vote at all. If there is a modicum of truth to the claim, it has to do with the relative value of different votes. A vote for Castle is relatively more valuable to him and his movement than a vote for Trump. The whole reason you vote is to make a difference. The question is what difference did you intend to make.
You want to vote third party? Knock yourself out. I did. But let’s be honest. It’s a strategy. And it’s a risky one. It’s based on the idea that it is possible for us to create a new party that doesn’t have all the same problems as the current parties. Or it might aim at the reform of another party by sending them a warning message to clean up their act. Either way, the risk is that we divide the conservative world and put the liberals in power. Thank God it didn’t happen this time. As bad as Trump is, at least he isn’t Hillary.
