Question:

What do you say to people who think if they vote Libertarian it is a wasted vote? I look forward to your answer.

Answer:

The ‘wasting your vote’ answer depends upon whom you’re addressing. My campaign literature for U.S. Senate in Texas uses this theme:

“‘(Headline): Don’t be a lapdog for big government! (Text Body): This November, you can, like a loyal lapdog, give big government Democrats and Republicans your vote and get kicked again with more taxes and regulations. Or — you can express your outrage by voting for small government. Don’t reward politicians who say one thing and do another! (Bottom Headline): Don’t waste your vote! Vote Libertarian!”

Many people want to vote for the lesser of two evils in order to slow down the spread of evil. I felt this way myself once, until I realized that what a politician does after the election is very different than what he or she promises to do. I realized that I couldn’t tell which candidate would actually turn out to be more evil; indeed, any difference was likely to be so small as to be immeasurable. Under these circumstances, my vote had the most impact as a protest vote, signaling the career politicians that they’d better change their tune or lose popular support. Public opinion is powerful — it killed the national health care that the Clintons tried to introduce.

If everyone who wanted libertarians to win actually voted that way, we’d have libertarians in the Senate and Congress. What could be more wasteful than casting your vote for someone you don’t want?