Wasting My Vote?

I have been a "conservative" since Barry Goldwater ran for POTUS and have voted in every general election. I believe that voting my conscience is not wasting my vote as evidenced by my vote for Ross Perot when he ran. However, this year I realized that for the past two decades I have been voting for "the lesser of two evils". After researching all available political parties I found that the platform of the Constitution Party matched my beliefs.

The mission of the Constitution Party is to secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity through the election (at all levels of government) of Constitution Party candidates who will uphold the principles of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United States, and the Bill of Rights. It is our goal to limit the federal government to its delegated, enumerated, Constitutional functions. This mission maintains our integrity.

Historically, our candidates only win city or county offices and rarely state level offices. This year may be different. I think the Republican Party will remain split whether Donald Trump wins or loses the nomination. If he wins the nomination the "establishment" Republicans will be looking for an alternative. If he loses the nomination due to "dirty tricks" his supporters will be irate and searching for an alternative to the "chosen" nominee. Unfortunately for Republicans, by the time they realize their dilemma it will be too late to launch a new third-party candidate and the existing third-parties will have already selected their nominees. Our Constitution Party national convention is April 13 thru April 16. It would be smart for the truly conservative Republicans to submit a viable presidential candidate to the Constitution Party convention. If selected by the attending delegates as our nominee he/she would provide an option after the Republican convention. However, the Republican Party "bosses" refuse to plan for anything except party unity after the convention.

In the General Election I plan to vote for all available Constitution Party nominees first, and then for Republican nominees for the remaining offices. If Hillary Clinton wins but the House and Senate remains Republican the nation should survive another four years and my conscience will be clear.

Dale Clinbeard
Greenville, South Carolina