Political Memes

Yes, but he would have won if everyone had voted how their heart desired.

Both major parties want you to believe that voting third-party is "throwing your vote away", but it isn't true. Simply expressing your heart's desire and having it counted on the public record makes voting worthwhile, even if your candidate doesn't win. (And in the case of Ross Perot, he would have won.)

You might as well say that voting for anyone except the candidate who is leading in the polls is throwing your vote away if that's how you see it.

A woman from a formerly Communist Eastern European country once told me a story. After their country had democratized, there was an election held on the day of a horrible blizzard. Her mother and father wanted to vote for one candidate, and her brother and sister wanted to vote for the rival candidate.

"Why don't we all just stay home, since our votes will cancel each other out anyway", someone said. And so her mother and sister decided to stay home. But her father and brother went out into the blizzard to vote, knowing that their votes would cancel each other out.

They just wanted to participate in democracy. They wanted to express themselves and be counted, even if it didn't change anything.