Voting your Neighbor's Conscience

Matthew Baldwin was funny and brilliant today (as usual) in his blog regarding voting for the "electable" candidate. He cleverly expressed a similar viewpoint to one I heard in an essay on ATC on Friday, one that inspired me to clap and holler in the car on the rainy drive home from work. I agree that this is the time to vote your conscience. We don't need to be political analysts, guessing who the "masses" will vote for. We should vote for the best candidate, the one whom each of us feels will best represent our views.

And yet, I recall the 2000 election and can't help but wonder what would have happened if some of those who voted for Ralph Nader really thought about electability.

But still, wasn't Nader good for the Democratic Party? Was the Green Party partly responsible for the more liberal field of Democratic contenders this winter? Hasn't Dean's practice of leading from the left empowered the other candidates to be less wary of the "L" word?

Should we sacrifice an election now and then for the future good of the party? Is it better to have more polarized candidates, or ones who are almost indistingishable because they are compromising too much to capture the votes of the many while satisfying the few?

Have I mentioned that I'm loving this election year? It's good to be an American.