“Lesser’ of Two Evils Fails”
These “lesser of two evils” arguments fail for at least two important reasons:
First, as an individual voter you have almost no chance of casting the deciding vote in an election.
Second, your vote is a powerful expression of your political will.
Your vote sends a clear signal to present and future office-holders about ‘what you value’ in a candidate:
- principled decision-making or political pragmatism
- consistency or compromise
- moral/ethical behavior or personal charm
It also shows what ‘principles’ are important to you as a voter:
- peace or military adventurism
- liberty or social controls
- property rights or coerced charity
- human equality or socialism
- free markets or government regulation
When you vote for the lesser of two evils ... you send a very weak message to future office holders:
...”that you are a loyal party member”.....
The respectable man, so called,..... has immediately drifted from his position, and despairs of his country, when his country has more reasons to despair of him..... He forthwith adopts one of the candidates...Thus Proving That He Is Himself Available For Any Purposes Of The Demagogue.......
(Thoreau’s .....“Civil Disobedience”)
Very well said.