My Vote is Not a Protest Vote

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When you cast your vote for president in November, you are not casting a vote for someone to lead you; you are casting that vote for someone to represent you while sitting behind the most powerful desk in the world. As a result, when filling out the ballot, you should pick the person who most represents your voice, whether it’s conservative, liberal or moderate. In the past, that choice was a simple one. It was either a Republican or Democrat. And, this was by design. Third party candidates were either ignored or discredited as “fringe” by the establishment-controlled corporate media and, because of that, very few Americans ever got a chance to learn if those other choices shared their voice. This is no longer the case. The establishment-controlled media still tries to make us believe there are only two choices. But, today, thanks to the internet, we no longer have to rely on the establishment media for our information. And, because of that, we can do our own research on third-party options, hear their voices and include them when deciding who shares our views and political philosophy. Thanks to this overwhelming abundance of information, I realized Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson is the candidate who shares my voice and I will be casting my vote for him this November. The establishment-controlled media likes to refer to my decision as a “protest” vote. Their argument is my candidate has no chance of winning and, by casting my vote for him; I’m taking my vote away from either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump. I wholeheartedly reject this argument. My vote is not a “protest.” A protest vote would be a voter who votes for someone they don’t like, such as Hillary Clinton, to prevent another candidate (Donald Trump) from winning. That, to me, is much more dangerous because, in that scenario, the person casting that vote is choosing to silence their own voice. If enough people are manipulated into being silenced, then we cease to be a democracy. We would become 321.42 million sheep being led to slaughter. My candidate probably won’t win. And, perhaps, my vote will cause a ripple effect that prevents their preferred candidate from winning too. But, win or lose, I can cast my vote knowing my voice is being heard, just as our Founding Fathers wanted it to be. So, in hindsight, maybe the media is correct after all. My vote really is a protest vote. It's a vote against tyranny.