You are voting for what to have for dinner, and the choices
are lima beans or liver (I assume you don't like either one).
There are other choices, maybe more tasty than lima beans or
liver, but everybody has always voted for lima beans or liver,
and the National "What's for Dinner" poll tells you that 95% of
the people who bother to vote at all will choose either lima
beans or liver.
So you already know that you can't have what you really want for
dinner tonight.
But what about tomorrow night? or the night after?
You can vote a couple of different ways:
1) vote for lima beans or liver, and choke down
dinner
Well, you say to yourself, I'll vote for lima beans this time, because I really really hate liver and I just plain hate lima beans.
Does this make any sense? You won't starve either way, but why support a dinner you really hate?
2) don't vote at all, and choke down dinner
What's the point anyway? I'll just have to eat what I don't like, so I'll just give up and not vote. After all, most people don't vote anyway, so I'll just go along with the crowd.
3) vote for hamburgers, and choke down dinner with a smile on
your face
Why is this person smiling?
Because they voted for what they really wanted, which is not giving up at all - it is depriving both lima beans and liver of support in the National "What's for Dinner" contest.
Better than that - people are beginning to vote for hamburgers, or pizza, or steak, or whatever, and the Dinner Poll people and the media are paying attention.
"Hey! check it out - these people voted for hamburgers, but they're eating liver and they're smiling! What's up with that? Maybe there is something to this hamburger stuff anyway."
If you vote for hamburgers, there is a chance that you can
have hamburgers for dinner someday.
If you never vote for hamburgers, you will be stuck eating liver
or lima beans the rest of your life.
If you vote for the third party candidate of your choice,
there is a chance that you will see your party in the White House
some day.
If you never vote for your third party, you will be stuck with
Democrats or Republicans the rest of your life.
Is this really what you want?
