Welcome to None Of The Above

A binding None Of The Above option on every ballot in every political race in America is the only way to force political parties to improve the quality of candidates they offer each election to the electorate.

Year after year, election after election, people stay away from the polls in large numbers. Most who do vote find themselves deciding which candidates are the lesser to two (or more) evils. The more that time goes on, the lower the quality of the candidates becomes. This trend must end, because unfortunately the lesser of two evils is still evil. By having to choose who is the least worst candidate, we end up with bloated government that is out of touch with the voters and their interests.

The few candidates who stand for principle rarely have much of a chance under the current system. They almost never get a hearing. Honest politicians are as rare as hens' teeth, and it's the electoral system in its current configuration which causes this. With few exceptions, only those candidates who are willing to sell out their principles and work on behalf of big-time lobbyists, corporations, unions, etc. can even get the money they need to run. Add in the fact that the mainstream media routinely decide who gets a free microphone, and that decision gets made based on how much power they have behind them, and it becomes clear why good, principled candidates have little or no chance under the current system.

The voters are the last line of defense against tyranny. Yet, if they are dissatisfied with the candidates in a particular race, what method do they have to express their dissatisfaction? None! They really only have two options, and neither is effective. The first is to not vote at all. The second is to vote for the lesser of two or more evils. These are not acceptable options.

We propose that None Of The Above be added to each and every ballot for each and every political race run in America. This would be a binding option. So if, in a given race, None Of The Above wins, then all the other candidates on the ballot are thrown off the ballot, a new election is declared, and new candidates must be given the opportunity to run. Only in this way can the major parties be expected to get the message, loud and clear, that the candidates they've been giving to us, the electorate, aren't good enough.

Toward that end, we are asking voters in 2008 to commit to write in None Of The Above on their ballots for every race in which they don't really like any of the candidate options. Our goal is to get at least one million voters to commit to this course of action this year. We know that most of those votes won't be officially counted in the overall totals, but if one million people vote that way anyway, it will be big news nonetheless. Once we achieve this level of success, it will give us the springboard we need to start pressuring Federal, state, and local legislators to change the laws and put a binding None Of The Above option on every ballot in every race, every year.