When Bernie Sanders didn’t win the democratic primary this year, it left me assessing my options on who to vote for.

Trump? God, no. Hillary? Eh. It’s not that I dislike Hillary, she just isn’t quite liberal enough for me. What can we do when we aren’t all that into either of the major candidates? 

We can either not vote (which isn’t an option), or look to third party candidates.

As it turns out, I got lucky there. Jill Stein’s Green Party platform aligned almost exactly with my political beliefs. So, this got me thinking. If I can vote for someone that perfectly aligns with my political beliefs, why wouldn’t I? Why are we always told voting for a third party candidate is throwing away our vote? 

Why is society scaring us away from voting in our own best interest?

When people argue against voting for third party candidates, their reasoning is that third party candidate can never win; that you are throwing away your vote by voting for an obviously losing candidate. 

Not voting for a third party is a self-fulfilling prophecy. Our first president told us to avoid a party system, and we immediately ignored him; it’s time we moved beyond this system.

Few will disagree if I say politics in the United States have stagnated as of late. The same people have been in charge too long and it has led to deadlocks on important issues in our government. 

We need new faces with new perspectives and new views on politics to shake things up. 

To try to pass bills Democrats and Republicans wouldn’t even think about trying to pass. 

To bring new, outside perspectives to our world of career politicians. 

To include scientists, women, Muslims and basically anyone to be part of our country’s political discourse.

So, let’s do it. 

It’s time for the political revolution Bernie was talking about. 

Let’s vote for third parties and take our political system out of the Democrats vs. Republicans rut. 

Let’s vote for candidates we are excited about and proud to support. 

Let’s vote for our exact ideals rather than the party candidate that seems the “least bad.” 

I will be voting for a third party candidate this election – come join me.

 

Alex Boger is an agriculture & biosystems engineering graduate student and can be reached at [email protected].