iExellence on why voting for a third party candidate could be the best ballot you ever cast

Obama vs. Romney. Republican vs. Democrat. Red vs. Blue. This is how America has voted since the time of Abraham Lincoln. Last election the majority of this country voted for a man with a slogan promising change. So, isn't it time Americans created their own change? Recently, there was a third party presidential debate featuring Gary Johnson (Libertarian), Jill Stein (Green), Virgil Goode (Republican), and Rocky Anderson (Justice). (Full Debate Here) This debate was much unlike the more publicized Obama-Romney debates because there mostly everyone agreed on solutions to the issues except Virgil Goode. The most interesting part of the heated debate was when they were discussing illegal drug use and whether as president the candidates would legalize marijuana or not. When it's Gary Anderson's turn to speak, he sates that he has quote: "Smoked marijuana" in his life. This was a seriously bold move, and it proved something valuable that third party candidates posses that Democrat and Republican candidates don't. Freedom to express their ideas.

Recently, Obama and Romney shattered a record for amount of money spent on campaigning for president  and that number will increase increase over future elections. Much of this money goes to professional campaigners who know what their candidate needs to say and act, just look at the difference between Obama in debate one and Obama in debate two. This was no doubt run by his clever campaign team. If you look at the stats from Jill Stein's total grossed income from this years campaign, it adds up to $246,443 (Full stats), that's less than the donations Obama got from Massachusettes actually, about 1/64th of his Massachusettes donations to be exact. Just FYI, Jill Stein is the favorite of the third party candidates. So, by this I don't mean to say that she is better because she runs on less funds, Obama clearly earned his, but that she can't possibly spend as much on campaign tactics, added on to the fact that she doesn't expect to win, that means she is completely free to express what she truly thinks, and likewise for her other third-party candidates. So, the main reason to vote for one of the, is because it is easy to see their real opinions. Even their websites are less craftily engineered to hide their opinions, they're right there. So, what I'm trying to hint at is not that third party candidates are automatically better, but that it is important to make an informed decision when you cast your ballot an to vote based on your own educated opinion, not just because of your party preference.