I am a Democrat who—perhaps surprisingly these days—has (non-MAGA) Republican and Independent friends. Not so surprising is that some dislike both choices in the upcoming presidential election. So they plan to vote for neither candidate nor cast a write-in vote for someone such as Ronald Reagan or John McCain.
It seems to me that this is a cop-out, or in the words of the old adage, a clear case of “letting the perfect be the enemy of the good.” Such scrupulosity is especially objectionable in this election, which commentators from both political parties agree is probably the most consequential of our lifetimes.
Perhaps a reasonable approach to this situation was suggested by Pope Francis in response to a reporter’s question while returning to Rome from an Asian visit last month.
When asked about the U.S. election, just as my American friends he does not like either candidate. But his wise counsel, which I think can apply to people of all faith traditions or none, is that Catholics have a duty to “vote, and one has to choose the lesser evil.” He refused to speculate about which candidate was the lesser evil, saying, “Each person must think and decide according to their own conscience.”
The exchange is discussed in an article entitled “Voting and the Primacy of Conscience” in the November issue of America magazine, described as the Jesuit Review of Faith and Culture.
Gerry Early
Easton
Bob Parker says
Right on, Gerry! Not only is refusing to choose throwing one’s vote away, it is an insult to all of the voters who make a difficult choice for a candidate they may not trust or agree with wholeheartedly. A throwaway vote does not absolve the person of any responsibility for any bad consequences caused, I r at least facilitated, by actions taken by our gov’t. What it does absolve the. On-voter of is the chance to say “at least I tried to make things better”.