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RE: http://www.volokh.com/2012/10/15/gary-johnsons-libertarian-candidacy/

In my mind, this is how democracy works for libertarians, or whoever don’t agree with either major candidate – if we vote for what/who we believe in, they don’t necessarily win, but if we don’t, they necessarily won’t win. So an LP candidate’s electability – or the “effectiveness” of libertarians voting for an LP candidate as Mr. Somin put it – is more or less a self-fulfilling prophecy.

While I agree with Mr. Somin that it is unlikely any LP candidate will make it to the White House anytime soon, that doesn’t necessarily mean that voting for one is ineffective in advancing the cause. Take recent presidential debates for example, the CPD refused to invite Gary Johnson or any other third party candidates to the debates, on the ground that they didn’t meet “the 15% threshold”. When being polled, did every libertarian, everybody who isn’t happy with either major candidate, give the candiate’s name whom they agree the most with? Or did they follow the same practical reasoning as Mr. Somin did, and picked “the lesser evil?”  If 50.1% appears such an insurmountable goal to libertarians for now, 15% should certainly have been something much more tangible.