The Lesser of Two Evils: The Inner Debate

Most political posts you see on Facebook nowadays try to convince you that one of the candidates is going to destroy America if elected or attempts to tell an unreliable anecdote how their preferred candidate said something smart or did something genuine out of selfless service to his or her country.  None of that biased propaganda will be found here.  This blog post isn’t about the candidates; it is about you and your vote.

You got a big decision this month.  Many great men and women throughout the world’s history have fought hard and long for you to be able to have the right to vote.  November 8th we get to directly affect the policies our leaders make in our country and help in the decision process of America’s next leaders.

With such a big decision looming ahead of us, why are so many people not excited to cast their ballots?  Well, all you have to do is look at the top two presidential candidates.  A loud-mouth, sexist who is better known for blurting out untrue accusations than actual policy and a corrupt, robotic politician who is currently under investigation by the Federal Government.  Not very appealing qualities for leader of the free world if you ask me.

Now before we delve into the real issue, don’t forget to vote for your local politicians as well as those running for the House and the Senate.  Even if you disdain our choices for president, don’t let that rob you of having a voice in your local community, district and state which will help decide many upcoming laws and policy.  A Senate loaded with politicians that more closely follow your political views can do a lot to affect the country even if the president happens to be in opposition to those views.

"[Those] who chose evil were more numerous...for the laws had become corrupted."    -Helaman 5:2

People are talking about this election being the choice between the lesser of two evils. Every time I hear this being used, a teaching from the Book of Mormon comes to mind.  “For as their laws and their governments were established by the voice of the people, and they who chose evil were more numerous than they who chose good, therefore they were ripening for destruction, for the laws had become corrupted.”  I fear this might be describing the state of our nation more than the ancient Nephite civilization.

Now the question for us is if one is evil or if both are evil?  I guess it depends on the person.  If you think Trump’s antics, womanizing, blatantly bending the truth, and total disregard for ethnic and religious minorities are bad, vote for Clinton.  If you think Clinton’s corrupt ways, big government spending agendas, and inability to connect with religious Americans is bad then vote for Trump.  But what if you think both are equally evil?  Well, the only option is to vote for a third -party candidate that you can agree with.

So what will I do?  Well I’m still not quite sure.  I think Clinton’s liberal policies will hurt the country more than they will help and I think Trump and his bigoted mindset will hurt the world more than I think his policies would help our country.    I definitely side with Trump a lot more because of my conservative leaning so I worry that if I vote a third-party candidate that it’ll open the door to a Clinton victory and that our laws will continue to become more and more corrupt and many of our constitutional rights will be under attack in the name of ‘political correctness’.  And did I forget to mention that the Supreme Court is about to fad out a lot of its justices? 

We can lament all we want.  Why didn’t more people vote for Ted Cruz or Bernie Sanders?  Why can’t I just be the one to choose the future Supreme Court Justices?  Why do I even have to vote?  We can’t do much but we first and foremost need to vote because nothing can be worse than not voting and staying silent.  That is how we got into this mess anyways.  Only the ultra-conservative and hard core Democrats really showed up to vote at the primaries in big numbers, giving us two candidates that aren’t what the moderate and independent majority of Americans want.  Silence in voting is simply agreeing with the crowd.

I’m sure I’ll move back and forth and back forth between blocking Hilary from winning by voting Trump and voting for someone third party to voice my disdain for the current behavior of both major parties.  I agree with Evan McMullin the most out of all the candidates but he isn’t on Nevada’s ballot and Nevada doesn’t accept write-in votes so that narrows my options.  In the end my vote won’t decide the election for the country but my vote and yours too will hopefully voice each of our unique opinions and show our leaders what direction we the people want America to go in for the near future.  Whether that be destruction under Clinton or destruction under Trump, at least we can say that it is our decision.