Nov 3, 2012

Anyone But: A Tale of Two Evils

As a libertarian, Ron Paul supporter, and (unenthusiastic) registered Republican I often get told by other Republicans that I should vote for Mitt Romney. Many arguments are made for this position, such as Romney being a great businessman and being pro private sector, but the debate usually comes down to “anyone but Obama.” After all, Barack Obama is the worst president in America’s history. Anyone could do a better job than him. Even if I dislike Romney he is the lesser of two evils and the only one who can defeat Obama in the coming election. Or so the logic flows.

To be honest, I don’t know much about every president in history. There were some past presidents that I have spent a great deal learning about in school and others who were glanced over. I’ve only recently become a fan of Calvin Coolidge, an example of a president that was all but skipped in high school history. I only have a handful of presidents to compare Obama to, thus to claim Obama is the worst is both unfair and foolish.

With that argument put to rest I’m going to forget history for the moment. Well, that is with the exception of the past four years. In 2008 Obama was the lesser evil, although I didn’t think of him as a lesser evil or even evil in general back then. I happened to be aligned to the liberal ideology at the time and was welcoming the idea of a President Barack Obama. Those were different times though. Now I understand why Obama was perceived the way he was. America was about to end eight terrible years of a Republican run executive branch. Any candidate on the Democrat’s ticket would be better than another President George Bush. Thus the phrase “anyone but Bush” was born. We all know where that got us.

The word “anyone,” however, doesn’t actually mean any other choice. As I mentioned, I’m specifically told to vote for Romney when someone says to vote for anyone who is not Obama. As I show them I’m taking their advice by stating I’m voting third party the other person scolds me and claims that I am wasting my vote or that I’m voting for Obama that way. What “anyone but” actually translates into is “vote for the opposing corporate party.” Therefore, if the incumbent is a Democrat, “anyone but” means vote for the Republican candidate, and vice versa. For anyone but devote Republicans and Democrats, the political world of anyone but is a depressing one.

I realize that the candidate I will cast my vote for as much chance of defeating President Obama as Penn Jillette does becoming an alcoholic. I’m not as interested in defeating Obama as I am in finding someone who represents the people of the nation. Unfortunately, that chance may not arrive for many years to come and we the people will only know victors that are anyone but the greater evil.