I was behind a truck in traffic today with a “Cthulhu for President” bumper sticker. “Don’t settle for the lesser evil!” it said.

I’ve been rather torn regarding the upcoming election. I don’t like having to choose the lesser of two evils. The two candidates, who are apparently called “Bush” and “Not Bush” (kinda like “not me” in the Family Circus comics) have a lot in common, and very little to distinguish them – at least on any issue that I actually care about.

I was amused by the episode where one of them said that we should pull troops from a foreign country and the other said that it was premature, and sent the wrong message to the nation and to the soldiers. If you’re not sure which one I’m talking about, that’s kinda the point. They both did it, within a few days of the other.

As our politicians push us faster and faster towards a police state, I find that I’m increasingly libertarian. However, I find that I’m reluctant to vote for a candidate who I *know* cannot win. Michael Badnarik seems to represent pretty closely what I think and believe, but I have to admit that I had to go look up his name, since I’d forgotten it since I read up on his platform. So, should I vote for him because it’s what I believe, even though I *know* that he can’t win? Is that irresponsible? Or is it irresponsible to vote for one of the major two candidates, who I don’t believe in?

Mr. Bush appears to have led the charge to strip away our civil rights. Or, at least, he was at the helm in a historic period when it was almost inevitable that those rights would be stripped away. Depends on your perspective. Mr. Kerry, on the other hand, seems to have only one quality, and that’s that he’s not Mr. Bush. Alas, that’s not a sufficient qualty to justify being the political leader of the world. Will he restore our civil rights? Of course not. But he might slow the rate at which they are stripped away. But how would one ever know?

And, so, fellow citizens, I urge you to carefully consider your vote, and don’t settle for the lesser evil.