Most Americans Wasting Their Votes in 2012 Election (ContributorNetwork)

COMMENTARY | The ability for a Republican candidate to beat President Barack Obama in the 2012 election topped the concerns of voters in the South Carolina primary, according to ABC News. As a political scientist, I have to laugh at the idea of voting for someone because you believe he or she is more likely to win than someone else. There are holes in the logic.

First off, if you are simply voting for someone who you believe could win, are you really living up to your responsibility as a voter? Our true responsibility as voters is to vote for the candidate we believe represents our ideas and ideals the best. We hear the phrase, "wasting a vote" and equate it to voting for someone who we know is going to lose. In actuality, we waste our vote if we do not vote for the person we support for the 2012 election.

If we vote for the "perceived winner" of the 2012 election, we are not sending a message to the candidates. Take Ron Paul, for example. The stronger numbers he is putting up this year is sending a message to Congress and to the future president about how more Americans are interested in having conversations about the scope of our rights and responsibilities under the Constitution. A message is being sent that people want to review what politicians are doing against the Constitution.

Right now, it is impossible to predict a Republican candidate as someone who would beat President Obama. Politics are like football when you consider how any candidate has a chance of beating another candidate on any given day. Torrential rains could happen one day and keep voters away. The ones who are most passionate about their candidate would be more likely to head to the polls. Many of us have had times in which we did not vote because we believed our candidate was the sure winner.

If you vote for someone in the 2012 election because he appears to be the winner, you are wasting your vote and not sending a message up the line. You are not living up to your responsibility as a voter. Vote for the candidate you believe speaks the most to you, and not simply the country at large. You were given a right, so use it to the full potential.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/obama/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20120122/pl_ac/10868603_most_americans_wasting_their_votes_in_2012_election

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