Vera Verba

Since Sean posted so eloquently on not voting, I thought I’d make the opposite case.

Last time I took the Political Compass test, I came out at almost the same place as Sean. And, I’m in firm agreement with the points he makes. (I especially appreciated him talking about the Commerce Clause.) Yet… I will, occasionally, vote.

Here’s why:

I expect governments to be coercive and manipulative. They always have been and always will be. It’s the nature of the beast. But, there are differences between administrations. Not enough differences, to be sure, but the economics of Ronald Reagan, for example, were far superior to the economics of Franklin Roosevelt.

So, if I have some confidence that one side is actually less bad than the other, I might go vote for that side. Mind you, I seldom do this, but I have, and I may again. In doing this, I do not expect good to come of it, only less evil. I can never be sure that I’ll be right in these guesses (politicians not being especially reliable), but sometimes I will take a shot.

One important point: While I think my method of handling voting is sensible enough, Sean’s arguments against it are sound too. That means that I don’t think either Sean or I are completely, provably correct. We’re both looking at a very complex data set, and trying to weight the many factors. We may weigh the factors slightly differently and come to different conclusions.

As for this year? No decision as yet. I’m convinced that Ron Paul is significantly less bad than the others, so if he’s on a ballot near me, that might push me over the edge. I don’t agree with him on everything, but I wouldn’t be looking for perfection anyway - only “less bad.”