This is a popular theme you will hear from third-party campaigns and supporters.  I was involved in Libertarian Party politics in the past, so I know it well.  When there was an election with a Libertarian Party candidate running, it was frequently said that one shouldn’t vote for the lesser of two evils.

In other words, you don’t have to vote for the Democrat or Republican.  They are both evil, so you shouldn’t support evil.

I suppose this line of thinking presents a problem if you don’t agree with everything the Libertarian stands for.  I hear it now with Jo Jorgensen running for president on the Libertarian Party ticket.  I hear that you shouldn’t vote for the lesser of two evils (Trump or Biden).  The problem is that I don’t fully support Jorgensen and everything she says.  So really, she may just be the lesser (the least) of the three evils.

We are confronted with the question of why you shouldn’t support the lesser of two evils, but you should support the lesser of three evils.

When it comes to advocating policies, I find it easy to be a libertarian.  I can just follow the Libertarian Party pledge.  I don’t advocate the initiation of force for political or social goals.

Sure, there are gray areas.  Sometimes it isn’t always clear what constitutes force, or what constitutes initiating it. But it is a general principle that can keep one from going astray on any particular issue.

It can be tough to take a libertarian stance on certain pieces of legislation.  For example, if there is a proposal that would cut two different taxes but raise one other tax at the same time, should a libertarian support it?  It would lead to a net decrease in taxation, but one piece of it would mean higher taxes.

Of course, whether a libertarian chooses to support the proposed legislation, he or she should make it clear that they support the part of lowering taxes and do not support the piece that raises taxes.

When it comes to voting, it becomes really difficult as a libertarian.  How much should a candidate be in line with your philosophy?  Does it make sense to vote for the lesser of two (or more) evils?

Governor Lockdowns

I live in the state of Florida.  I was mad back in April when the governor, Ron DeSantis, issued lockdown orders for the state. I was calling him Dictator DeSantis.  I spoke similarly of the mayor of my city, and I still do.

But DeSantis has changed his tune enormously over the last several months.  He just fully reopened Florida, although there are still some restrictions from local city or county governments.

DeSantis has been quite good on the issue of lockdowns and mask mandates coming from the government, at least compared to most other governors in the United States.  I would probably give the top prize to Kristi Noem, the governor of South Dakota.  But considering Florida is a very populous state with a wide range of people, I feel lucky that Florida is relatively better off in terms of government restrictions for a virus.

Florida has a broad demographic of people.  But if anything, there are a disproportionate number of older people, who are supposedly at much higher risk from the virus.  That makes it that much more astounding that DeSantis was able – politically speaking – to fully reopen things ahead of most other states.

DeSantis just barely won the election in 2018.  He barely beat out a corrupt “progressive” (i.e., a socialist) who almost surely would have heavily locked things down on his own dictatorial orders for a long period of time.

Don’t get me wrong here.  These dictatorial powers have been allowed by the consent of the people.  If most people didn’t consent to mask mandates and the shutting down of businesses, then even the hardcore leftwing governors wouldn’t be able to get away with these edicts.

When there are a lot of mixed opinions out there, as we have now, it does provide some latitude for governors and mayors.  DeSantis could have just as easily kept things somewhat locked down.  He would have had some pushback from his more conservative base, but that hasn’t stopped some other Republican governors in other states.

I did not vote for DeSantis in 2018.  In some ways, I feel a little bad that I didn’t, although I certainly couldn’t have known what would happen in the year 2020.  If you had asked me back in April, I would have criticized DeSantis heavily, saying that he is no different than all of the other bad politicians.

While voting for DeSantis would have been voting for the lesser of two evils, he really is less evil than the person who lost.  I am grateful that DeSantis is governor over some socialist who would be cracking skulls right now for not masking up or for trying to open up a business.

Stating Principles

I don’t know if this will change the way I vote in the future.  I have voted for what I thought before was the lesser of two evils, and the person turned out to be far more evil than I thought.  It is not an easy subject for a libertarian.

There is one thing that is really important, and I think this is the key for any libertarian. If you decide to vote for the lesser of two evils, make sure you make it clear what you want.

For example, you could say, “I support Governor Candidate A because he wants to lower income taxes by 10%.  I want to lower income taxes to zero, but I will tentatively support Governor Candidate A because it is a step in the right direction.”  (Luckily I don’t have to worry about a state income tax in Florida.)

You should always make your principles clear.  You should make your end goals clear.  And don’t be afraid to criticize a candidate even if you are voting for the person as the lesser of two (or more) evils.  Voting for someone doesn’t mean that you excuse them when they do something wrong.

There is no right or wrong for a libertarian when it comes to voting.  Well, if you are voting for someone like Joe Biden or Kamala Harris, I would need some really good reasoning on how that would advance society towards liberty.  However, you certainly don’t need to agree on everything in order to vote for a candidate or even lend some enthusiastic support.

I was never a big fan of using the “lesser of two evils” argument.  I stopped saying anything like it a while ago.  This year has confirmed it for me. DeSantis really is the lesser of two evils, and Floridians are much better off for it.