My vote
Alex Granados
Nov 04, 2008

With regards to the presidential race, I thought I would let you all know how I voted and why.

I voted for Ralph Nader.

I know, I know… I threw my vote away. Worse. I might have contributed to the downfall of Barack Obama. Well, if that is the case, then so be it.

I wanted to vote for “change,“ and while Obama was talking the good talk about “hope” and “change” and the future of our country, let’s face it, a vote for a Democratic presidential candidate is not a vote for change. Neither is a vote for a Republican.

Whether or not you vote Democrat or Republican, you are voting status quo. The two parties have controlled our national politics for quite a while and it appears that they will go on with their iron rule. It is so bad that if someone, like myself, says he or she is voting for a third party, then that person is “throwing their vote away.“

But I disagree. This country was not based on the notion that people should be able to choose their leaders only if their leaders came from one of two parties. People were supposed to choose whoever they thought best represented them, and in Virginia, there were four other presidential candidates to choose from. The choice wasn’t two, it was six.

A friend of mine at work gave me the line that I was wasting my vote. No I wasn’t. My vote is not a strategic decision. I could care less how, or if, my vote for Nader influences the Obama/McCain race. My vote represents my choice. I choose an alternative to the status quo. I choose change. And besides, Nader advocates impeaching George W. Bush, and that is something I can get behind.

I want something different in this country, and when enough people are sick and tired of the dual, Donkey/Elephant reflection staring back at them from the mirror of repetition and rhetoric, then third parties will become a viable alternative. I can’t wait for that day.