Note: I was working on this list-cum-manifesto during the recent elections in the U.S. and found it now in my draft folder. Because of the results of that election, I think this post, albeit incomplete and unfinished, is still necessary.
My vote is mine alone. I don’t owe my vote to anyone. Nobody deserves my vote.
Those of us who are disenfranchised and/or dissuaded to vote for one of the nominees of the major two parties are not to blame for the failings of the two-party system. My “wasted” or “throw-away” vote was always already wasted and thrown away by participating in an election with a two-party system.
Spoiler alert: the “spoiler effect” of third-party candidates isn’t real. Or, to be more precise: the spoiler effect of voting for a third-party candidate in a two-party system is by its very design and intention meant to spoil the two-party system.
My vote is meaningless. With the two-party system, winner-take-all elections, and the structure of the Electoral College, no one vote has any meaning or value.
Elections in and of themselves are meaningless. Democracy is so much more than a few hours every four years.