Word: awaye
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...wake of the 2000 presidential election, many pundits and voters blamed Ralph Nader for what they perceived as his role in preventing the victory of former Vice President Al Gore ‘69. In their view, Nader drew away votes that would have otherwise been cast for Gore and could have altered the outcome of the extraordinarily close contest. Despite a later study by Harvard Professor B.C. Burden that largely disproved this theory, the controversy illustrates an important feature of American party politics: the abundance of obstacles faced by third-party candidates seeking electoral equality. Third-party candidates represent...
...counterproductively split votes with the elector’s second-best choice. For example, in the 2000 election, 38 percent of those who voted for Nader would have voted for Gore if Nader had not run, while only 25 percent would have voted for Bush. However, in taking away from Gore’s totals by casting their vote for the Green Party, Nader’s supporters may have prevented their second-best choice from winning the election; the Nader voters ensured that the candidate whose policies were most oppositional to their own was placed in office...
Ignoring the mathematical inaccuracy of the notion that Nader took away enough votes to cost Gore the election, this counterargument poses a difficult choice for the voter. Undoubtedly, the more rational decision is to cast the vote for Gore and ensure that the second-best option takes office. But the principled one is to vote for Nader and the values he represents...
...remember that their vote is their voice and an expression of their values; if their views accord most closely with those of third-party candidates, they should be encouraged to express their support through their vote. Instead of claiming that those supporting third-party candidates are throwing away their vote, we need to recognize the principles behind these votes and the values that they express. In doing so, we uphold the very ideals that make a vote valuable in the first place—its expression of a voice and the opinions that lay behind...
...contrast, the artist’s newer work moves away from the symbolism that saturates “The Mourners...