I often read and hear people saying, "I refuse to vote for the lesser of two evils" regarding the US presidential election. While I can understand where they are coming from, I disagree with this position. Because the US is based on a two-party system, the only real say we have on election day is in voting for the candidate who most closely matches our own opinions, or - more likely - voting against the one who is just that little bit farther off the wall. Though in theory I agree with voting Green or Libertarian or whatever else, in reality those votes don't count except as votes against the system. (And then there's the whole electoral college issue too - don't even get me started on that.)

The political tests that others have posted pegged me as a Liberal with Libertarian tendancies. I'm going to vote for Kerry, not because I think he's THE ONE, but because he has got to be better than Bush. While I agree with ideas espoused by the Green and Libertarian parties, if I were to vote for one of those candidates, I would in essence be throwing my anti-Bush vote away. So in my opinion, it's better to vote for one of two candidates who is actually going to win, in order to actually have a say in who wins.

Now, I'm not trying to tell anyone that they shouldn't vote for another party; this is obviously just my point of view. The reason I'm posting is to ask this question: what if the US used a two-tier system like the French? If you're not familiar with this system, all candidates - Communist, Socialist, Green, Liberal, etc. - are on the first ballot, and you vote for your candidate of choice. Then a second election is held between the two candidates who got the most votes, and you basically vote against the one you hate more. I like this system because you get to have your say about less popular candidates during the first vote and avoid the "not counted vote" (in my opinion) during the second round.

I think it was Natalie who said in another discussion that if she were forced to choose between Kerry and Bush, she'd take the bullet. I'm curious - if the US used the French system and the first round eliminated all but Kerry and Bush, would you vote for one of them in the second round?

Laura K. Lawless
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