October 30, 2012 by David K. Sutton

Liberal? Not Voting Obama? Thinking Of Voting Third Party?

If you are a liberal and you are not planning to vote for President Obama, I have two words for you: Supreme Court. If you are considering a vote for a third party presidential candidate like Jill Stein of the Green Party, or if you are thinking of not voting at all, I would like to remind you that the Supreme Court already leans conservative 5 to 4.

On the issue of abortion, the current Supreme Court would lean 5 to 4 in support of a woman’s right to choose. But what would happen if Mitt Romney is elected president and appoints one or two conservative justices? Abortion is not the biggest issue this country faces, but that doesn’t mean defending Roe v. Wade and a woman’s right to choose is trivial. If the high court were to become even more conservative than it is now, that ruling is likely to be overturned.

What other rulings could we expect with an ultra-conservative Supreme Court? If Mitt Romney becomes president, a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage is certainly a possibility, particularly if Republicans were to take full control of congress. With an ultra-conservative Supreme Court, a ban on same-sex marriage would certainly be upheld.

Look, I empathize with your belief in expanding our political system beyond two parties. Hell, my political views are most closely aligned with Green Party candidate Jill Stein. And for a long time now I’ve said there should be no political parties. I think political parties create divisions where there might otherwise be none. But I’ve recently decided that the issues are too important to get caught up in trying to perfect the system.

For liberals, there are potentially big consequences in allowing an increasingly extreme Republican Party to once again control the executive branch. Until the Republican Party finds a way to tamp down the extreme fringe that has taken over the party, we need to do what’s necessary to elect Democratic candidates. It’s for this reason that I’ve given up the idea of getting rid of the political parties and instead believe in the idea of reform from within. Make no mistake, the Democratic Party is far from perfect, but it’s the closest thing we have to a big tent party in this country.

So if you are a liberal, and you recognize the United States Supreme Court wields tremendous power over the country, please remember that when you “vote your conscience” next week. / photo by Kevyn Jacobs