Jonathan Grubbs posts the following on his blog , which I have quoted below in its entireity. He concisely argues the point I've tried to make with others as well...so many just don't get it.
This has to be one of the arguments that gets thrown at me more than any other argument. Voters who are used to voting based on blind party loyalty always seem to think that a vote for a third party candidate is a wasted vote. People tell me that by voting for Peroutka, I am actually voting for Kerry. I have come to the conclusion that these people haven't actually thought about their argument at all.The first problem with this argument is that these voters think that my vote belongs to one of the major party candidates. My vote belongs to me, no candidate is entitled to that vote.
The second problem with their argument is that they automatically assume that if I were not voting for Peroutka, then I would simply "hold my nose" and vote for Bush. Again, they are incorrect in their thinking.
In 1996 I left the Presidential part of my ballot blank, I was not about to vote for Bob Dole simply because he had an (R) beside his name. In 2000 I didn't vote for George W. Bush, and have never had any intentions of voting for him in November. My vote is not taking a vote away from George Bush, because my vote never belonged to George Bush, so my vote is NOT for Kerry, but for Peroutka, the only conservative candidate who will be on the ballot in November.
For me, it's not about the "numbers" that count on election day, but how I will answer to God if I compromise my principles by voting for someone who stands for what I don't believe in.
Another angle on this: What if George Bush LOST one's vote? Are we not privileged to vote for another, if originally we MIGHT have voted for Bush, but through his term has demonstrated that he doesn't DESERVE our vote? What is the principle that is being betrayed in voting for a third party?
Somehow people just don't get the fact that a vote is only FOR the person for whom it is cast. Quite frankly, if I were to vote for George Bush, I am saying to everyone that he is the one, above all others, that I want to put in office: given that that is not the case, such a vote would be a clear violation of the ninth commandment. I'm not so afraid of what Kerry would do in office that telling a blatant falsehood is warranted.