As a card carrying Libertarian, people often urge me to support one of the two primary parties candidates in big elections like the gubernatorial one coming up. “It’s important! You don’t want that guy to win, do you?” they ask. Well, the answer is no. The thing is, I don’t want their guy to necessarily win, either.

In this country, we’ve gotten off track. Once upon a time, people voted for the candidate who had views most akin to their own. Today, we seem far to content to vote against a candidate rather than vote for someone we truly believe in. We are more than willing to vote for the lesser of two evils, and most don’t realize that it’s still a vote for evil.

Some will argue that by voting for some candidates who aren’t part of the big two parties, I’m helping the “worse” of the two evils to win. Sounds kind of scary, doesn’t it? Here’s the great thing about living in Georgia. We’re a run-off state. So long as a candidate doesn’t get 50% plus one of the votes, there’s a run-off. That means that we, as citizens, can vote for the guy we like most, rather than against the guy we like least.

This has a couple of benefits, and not just allowing someone like me to actually use the mirror while shaving. First, it let’s your favorite party know if you’re displeased with them. Maybe you’re sick of the guys they keep putting up for election and you want them to remember principles, namely their own. A large number of third party votes would certainly send a message.

Another benefit is the fact that maybe, just maybe, we’ll start electing people we actually want in office. Even today, it does happen occasionally, but imagine if that happened every election. Alright, in all fairness, there will be times your guy loses. Otherwise, why even bother with elections, right?

As things stand now, we can vote our conscience now, and force the runoff. Then we can choose between the lesser of two evils. Now, an added feature of this is that maybe the lesser of two evils won’t necessarily be so evil.

I hear a lot of people say that they like what Libertarian candidate John Monds stands for, but won’t vote for him because he can’t win in the general election. However, he doesn’t have to. Republicans or Democrats can vote for someone like Monds (or any other third-party candidate they choose) to let their displeasure be known. Then, maybe the big two parties would start presenting a better class of candidate.

How would it feel to not vote for the lesser of two evils, but maybe the better of two good men?