I can't vote, BTW, so all of this is "If I could vote" stuff...
I don't turn 18 for another 7 months.
Else I would vote for Obama, because he's the least conservative. Although if we get Governor of Massachusetts Romeny (as opposed to whatever stance he decides to flip to by election time), there's not much of a difference.
This is one of the biggest reasons I wouldn't support Gov. Romney even if I were 18. He might be the same as Obama, he might be somewhat better on fiscal issues, but on foreign policy he's going to be a war hawk and he is probably going to increase surveilance. Obama is horrible, but Romney could easily be just as bad or worse. Smellincoffee does pretty much describe the other reasons when he talks about surveilance.
I'm voting for Jill Stein (probably) because I want to say 'I voted', and she's the candidate whose ideas I find most sensible. That's not to say the Greens are the best party -- I staunchly disagree with their stance on nuclear energy, for instance -- but they're anti-corporate, for taking environmental issues seriously, and for civil liberties. I cannot fathom why people who fear government power vote for Republicans given how enthusiastically they embraced the PATRIOT act, FISA, etc, but the Democrats' hypocrisy in this issue makes them little better. The reason I didn't vote for Obama was his record in this manner, and his recent actions -- signing FISA into law, claiming that he didn't support its more pervasive measures, but now fighting the courts who claim those measures are illegal -- justify my skepticism of him.
I'll also be votiong against all of the current legislative incumbents, both national and local. The locals recently forced Alabamians to vote on an amendment that would allow them to raid a trust fund because they couldn't manage to balance the budget. What are they being paid salaries for if they can't devote enough attention and care to the job to perform it?
I'm a libertarian-leaning, free-market supporter who has lost most of his respect for the GOP for even picking Romney (If we cared about doing anything useful we would have picked Paul or Johnson) and I lost the rest of it when they refused to let Paul speak and stole some of his delegates. I'm opposing Republicans this year across the board as a general rule, with the libertarian leaning ones (Such as Rand Paul if he's up for election this year, I honestly don't know), and the ones who boycotted the GOP convention (Go guy in Maine just because of principle, whatever else you may think.)
Honestly, if they ever got a Democrat who was a non-hypocrite on those types of issues, was pro-gun, and at least as pro-life as the other guy, I might seriously think about it, depending on how crappy the GOP nominee was. I'd certainly vote for Mike Gravel (Based on PC positioning alone) over Mitt Romney. That said, I don't see it happening. For whatever reason, most libertarian types (Or at least, anything resembling Ron Paul's type of libertarianism, I know for left-libertarians its a different ball game) tend to prefer either the GOP or the Libertarian Party, not the Dems. My support for certain GOP candidates because of their libertarian leanings should not be considered to be a support of the GOP as such. In fact, I feel very betrayed this year with our choice of Romney, he's our third neocon on the ticket in a row (I'll admit to not knowing a thing about Bob Dole at all. I didn't count him on that list. If we did, George HW might fit on that list as well to make 5, and then we had Reagan, the last decent GOP President.)
My biggest divide at this point is whether to register Constitutionalist or Libertarian. I definitely consider myself to be anti-state in principle on the vast majority of issues, but the LP Platform and the LP chair's explicit endorsement of legal abortion absolutely nauseates me (I know some Libertarians vocally disagree with it. I would too if I joined their party.)
I'm hoping I can vote for the GOP candidate in 2016, but am not counting on it. I will almost certainly vote third party next time if Romney wins, short of him doing something that really impresses me, which I don't expect.
Ron Paul because he is not a corporate puppet and genuinely wants to do good things for this country. he speaks witj such honesty and doesn't change his policies to try to fit a certain demographic. I don't believe in all his policies (mainly abortion and the gold standard idea), but his stances on foreign policy, civil liberties, and small government are reasons enough to vote for him.
Since he will not be on the ballot officially, I will be voting for Gary Johnson because they are nearly the same
Ron Paul was where it was at this year. I wouldn't say Gary Johnson is "The same." And I say that as someone who has vocally endorsed voting for him on here. Ron Paul is far superior. Johnson's plans would, if followed, begin to whittle away at the debt, but Paul would, I think, do so even quicker. Ron Paul would go back to the Founders' foreign policy, while Gary wants to reduce, but not eliminate, the interventionist state. And for me personally (I know you don't agree on this), Ron Paul is pro-life. It took A LOT to get me to support a pro-choice candidate in Gary Johnson this year. Ron Paul is 100% pro-life, and I supported him the entire time. Johnson I support at this point, largely because his position is no worse than Mitt Romney's but its not great for me.
Basically, I do think Ron would go a lot farther, and so is ideologically better. Gary Johnson, at the other hand, is younger and more moderate, which makes him a more practical candidate. He won't win in 2012, but perhaps he will throw the election to Obama and then win the GOP nomination in 2016.
For the record, if that didn't explain it enough, I'm endorsing Gary Johnson this year. If Ron Paul ran as an Independent I'd support him out of principle but since he's backed out, I'm backing Johnson as the next best thing. Mitt Romney and Obama are clones that happen to have different physical attributes, in my view. Politically they are almost the same. Romneyites saying he is for "Smaller government" is falling on deaf ears for me. He doesn't.
I would encourage everyone who can to vote, even third party, or even write a name in, let them know you didn't support a candidate on the ballot due to frustration rather than apathy.
