In the midst of my political frustration, I've had a number of people tell me that I should simply "vote my conscience." They tell me there are a number of good third party candidates out there that more closely represent my political and social values and I should vote for one of them.

I completely agree that there are candidates out there that have a platform and doctrine that I can nearly 100% support. Take Chuck Baldwin, for example. He seems like a great, upstanding guy. He shares a number of the same beliefs that I share, I like a lot of his ideas, and he has no chance of winning. That's right: No Chance.

In an ideal world, every candidate on the ticket would have an equal opportunity to win. Here's a newsflash for everyone out there: We don't live in an ideal world. We have a two party system here in America. Either a Republican or a Democrat is going to win the election and, though that is the root of most of our problems, it is not easily changed.

Here is why I'm logically against the idea of ‘voting your conscience.'

Voting your conscience is irresponsible
Generally speaking, if there are two candidates that have a valid shot at winning the Presidency, you are going to agree more with one candidate and less with the other. You may not agree 100% with either and you may detest some of the policies of the one that you more closely side with. The fact remains, however, that you will believe that one of those two men will do a better job of running the country than the other.

Voting for a third party candidate that is more in line with your beliefs is a vote against major party candidate that you would side with. A vote against is semantically equal to a vote for the opposition. So, in essence, you have just cast a vote that helps in electing someone that you don't think will do a good job running the country.

Voting your conscience is selfish
Often times when people vote their conscience, it is because they disagree with one or more of the policies of the major party candidate. Hence, they vote for a third party candidate because they "cannot bring themselves to cast a vote in favor of that policy that they disagree with."

So, the basis of your vote is to make yourself feel good. Forget about what's best for the country, you don't like that one little policy, so you're going to vote for the unknown underdog to make sure you can keep that warm, fuzzy feeling inside.

Here's what I think
I hate the fact that I've been pigeonholed into voting for either a Republican or a Democrat. I hate that my choice has been taken away from me. I think John McCain would do a better job of running this country than Barack Obama and I hate the fact that I get sick at my stomach every time I think about voting for McCain. I hate the fact that I have to choose between the "lesser of two evils."

To all those ‘vote your conscience' types out there: Unfortunately, we have a rooted, two party system that isn't going anywhere. You are going to agree with one of the major party candidates more than the other. Even if it hurts, even if it makes you a little nauseated, please make the responsible choice and cast a vote in favor for the betterment of this country. Until there are fundamental changes in this country, a vote for a third party candidate is not a responsible choice, especially when the choice is so critical.

Maybe one day we can reform the party structure. Maybe one day Republicans will be conservative again. Maybe one day ...

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