To Vote or Not to Vote? -- My Frustration with the Two Party System

     In 2008, I turned 18 less than two months before the presidential election. Naturally this led to a significant excitement to vote and a strong propensity to be outspoken about the coming election. I helped other students register to vote and even helped organize a student debate and mock election at school.

     Four years later my attitude could not be more different. Until about a month ago, I was dead-set on not voting in this year's election for reasons that I still find to be somewhat valid. The foremost reason is that I am not crazy about either Mitt Romney or Barack Obama. This reality eventually prompted me to look into some of the third-party candidates. In doing so, I came to the conclusion that Green party representative, Jill Stein, is the candidate who best reflects my political views--both social and economic--and during the last week I have been happily anticipating giving her my vote on election day.

     But now, on the morning of the election, I have found myself undecided once more. What can I hope to accomplish by voting for a third-party candidate? Of course, I am "voicing my opinion" and exercising my right to "choose," but let's be honest: a vote for any third-party candidate is a waste of a vote, and for all intents and purposes if you aren't going to vote for the Republican or Democratic candidate, then you may as well stay home.

     Talk about frustrating. As citizens of the United States, we are constantly reminded of the great privilege and opportunity we have of living in a democratic nation where we maintain the ability to choose our leaders. Yet in a nation of over 300 million people, we get to choose between two. Sure, six plus names will appear on the ballot, but we all understand the reality of the situation with which we are presented: Romney or Obama; Republican or Democrat?

     So the fact remains that I still have a decision to make. Do I vote for Jill Stein, in hopes of ever-so-slightly loosening the grip of the two-party system? Or do I abstain from voting altogether, voicing my opinion through my refusal to do so? It's honestly a tough decision and while either of these options would allow me to grant myself a significant moral victory, the fact remains that for all practical purposes, there is only one real option, and that is to give in to our dichotomous government and choose a side; to choose "the lesser of two evils" as the cynic in me wants to say. So that is probably what I am going to do.

     All rhetoric aside, I honestly don't know how much one person (I know the presidential election is about more than the candidates themselves) can truly affect the economy (for better or for worse) in the next four years. With that being said, I'll probably end up voting on social issues; if you know me at all, that should tell you where my vote is going.