Early voting begins today

The chance to vote early in Georgia begins today. For those of you who read this blog and intend to vote, and would like to vote early, now is the chance. Advance voting locations can be found here.

Now that I've said that, let me make an important point. I am not trying to, nor would I ever try to, tell anyone how to vote. However, I think it is important that everyone knows that there are more options on the ballot than those the media lets us know about (i.e., McBama [McCain and Obama]). There are several other individiuals in several different parties - as well as one independent that I know of - who are running. They are:

Bob Barr of Georgia is the candidate for the Libertarian Party. His Vice-Presidential pick is Mr. Wayne Allyn Root.

Cynthia McKinney, also of Georgia, is the candidate for the Green Party. Her VP pick is Rosa Clemente.

Chuck Baldwin is the candidate for the Constitution Party. His VP pick is Darrell Castle.

Charles Jay is running for the Boston Tea Party. His VP Pick is Thomas L. Knapp.

Ralph Nader is running an independent campaign. His VP pick is Matt Gonzalez.

Now, your response to any of those third party candidates might be "But, voting for any of them will take away votes for (insert either McCain or Obama here) and give (McCain or Obama) the election!" Sadly, that's more than likely true. Voting for any of those third party candidates will most likely not get one of them elected - unless more people than I expect to vote for a third party candidate do vote for them.

I know that many people are passionate in their support for McBama. But, many are not - many will vote one way or the other simply to make sure the candidate they don't want in office doesn't get there. These are the people I want to speak to now. Is it enough to vote for someone who may be the "lesser of two evils" just to keep either the Democrat or Republican that you dislike from getting into the White House? Evil is still evil, whether it's lesser or greater evil. Personally, I'd rather vote my conscience and pray for the best.

One last thing. I'm repeating myself, but I want to say that I'm not trying to push any candidate (or candidates) with today's thoughts. I'm just trying to, in my own way, get my readers to think about the possibility of not having to accept the status quo. Nothing and no one can make you vote for the same old parties. Nothing and no one should make you vote for the same old parties.

MTV has its "Rock the Vote" message. I say rock the boat.