By Micah J. Fleck
We’ve heard the arguments that “a vote for (insert spoiler candidate here) is a vote for (disliked two-party candidate here)” numerous times. The idea is to discourage people from voting on principle by garnering fear of a boogyman-like caricature of whichever of the two main candidates in the running is seen as the “greater evil.” Once again in this race, despite getting the most coverage and polling support of any third candidate in decades, Gary Johnson is also being given this treatment by the party line-towers. “A vote for Johnson is a vote for Trump,” say the leftists; “A vote for Johnson is a vote for Hillary,” say the conservatives. Both positions operate on the assumption that a third party candidate can only “spoil” the election rather than win it.
But what if we examined the candidates on their own merits this time, rather than argued from ignorance and “lesser of the evils” rhetoric? What if we argued instead that Johnson isn’t the candidate one should be concerned about spoiling the election? What if we listed some very good reason why, for instance, a vote for Trump is a vote for Hillary?
Here are five reasons why think this statement rings true.
