"Voting Is About Choosing Who Best Represents Us, Not Who We Think Will Win" - Granite Grok

“Voting Is About Choosing Who Best Represents Us, Not Who We Think Will Win”

Ah yes, another way of what I have been saying for years:

Winning is only a precursor; it is what you do AFTERWARDS that is most important.

To wit, you win only to get something done.  Or, miserably true, to just BE someone. Winning is important but not the end all be all – the moral of both my meme and the RedState post.  It is voting for the person that in persuading me that their beliefs are mine and that I can TRUST that they will honor their pledges once assuming office. Sadly, in many cases, the voters on the Right get duped as “Winning” then turns to be the operative word – and the ONLY operative word. Caruso continues:

As one of the first people to declare that I would never vote for Donald Trump, I am constantly barraged by people telling me there are only two choices in the presidential election. One of them is Donald Trump and the other is Hillary Clinton.

When reminded the election is not a binary choice and other candidates are available, I am almost always met with, “But none of those other candidates can win! Why would you waste a vote?” It is this mindset that reveals a total of lack of understanding of why we vote in the United States.

It may sound pedantic to some, but the reality is, we do not live in a democracy. We live in a representative republic. We vote for people to represent us in public office. How long they serve, outside of term limits, is determined by the voters. When there is change, it results from people looking at the incumbent and determining, “This person doesn’t represent me in a satisfactory way. I am going to vote for somebody else.” Whether this is in a primary election or general election is dependent upon a number of factors.

To represent – not just to win.  Sure, the person I vote for doesn’t always win. I’d like to think that the opponent(s) just showed that they represented other voters than mine did to like-minded folks like me.  However, we all know that doesn’t work and that’s the entire rubbed-raw wound.  Most people just vote a party – and I’ve put up enough “man in the street” videos here on the ‘Grok to prove that point.

Sad, that.

 

But Caruso hits it on the head:

A candidate has to earn votes. Donald Trump is not deserving of my vote any more than Hillary Clinton merely because Trump is the GOP nominee. I am a proud Republican but my vote is not dictated by the party or its nominee. My vote will go to the person who best represents me and if that is a candidate outside the Republican Party so be it.

Lately it seems that the Republican Party, at least here in NH, has decided that it doesn’t have to EARN my vote – and I’ve written enough about Republicans proving with their actions and votes that there is little to no difference between them and Democrats (and that no Democrat has been willing to answer the question “what is the difference between Democrats and Socialists” – go ahead, MixMaster that!). That’s why I am no longer a “proud Republican” – I refuse to be taken for granted (“well, where ELSE are you going to go” is just so condescending).

Right now, about the only guiding light I have is #AnyoneButHillary.  The problem, however, is that I still can’t get a bead on Trump, Jill Stein is a Socialist wrapped up Green wolf-fur, and Gary Johnson is sounding more like Hillary than a Libertarian lately (Carbon Tax?  Illegal Immigration? -> and Weld is just a squishy Republican that can’t fight the rumors of being a drunk).

So who does represent me now?

(H/T: RedState)

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