Counterintuitive Campaigning: A Solution to the Wasted Vote Syndrome, or, I Will Not Fear My Fellow American by Thomas M. Sipos     A Druid is running for governor on the California Libertarian Party ticket.  Gary Copeland isn't making a campaign issue of his religion, but I never hear any mention of him from the media, whether from radio shock jock or serious pundit, without the immediate descriptive: "that Druid guy."     But if Copeland's religion is to be made an issue, the intuitive response would be to use it to attract neo-pagan voters.  And it may.  But I think the real opportunity of running a Druid would be to attract Christian fundamentalists to the LP.     Counterintuitive, no?  Let me explain.     Every election, more people support the LP than vote for it.  These potential votes are forfeited partially due to the Wasted Vote Syndrome.  Rather than vote for a preferred third party candidate who won't likely win, people vote for the "lesser of two evils."     Fear fuels the Wasted Vote Syndrome.  Fear drives many people into voting Demopublican.  The two major parties, having made bogeymen of each other, play divide and conquer.  Voters who fear "coat-hanger wielding theocrats" run to Democrats.  Those who fear "gun-grabbing quota-queens" run to Republicans.  And every election is "the turning point."  Libertarians, Greens, Constitutionalists, are praised for their principles, but warned to save it "for the next election."  This one is "too important to lose."     Demopublican bogeymen are plausible because they are carry kernels of truth exaggerated to satirical proportions.  Fantastical political satire is a powerful tool.  My own novel, Vampire Nation, features Communist vampires -- literally.  But Vampire Nation is fiction set in Cold War Transylvania.  In contemporary real world America, Republican victories will not establish a theocracy; Democratic victories will not end Christian civilization.  The truth is more like a frog coming to a slow boil.  Whichever major party wins, things continue to worsen along the usual path and at the usual pace, more or less.  More taxes, regulations, corruption, foreign wars, pork spending, and civil liberties violations.     The twin bogeymen are effective because one of the Demopublican's biggest constituencies are Americans who fear other Americans.  The Libertarian message frightens Americans because, while they may wish freedom for themselves, they dread granting it to ... them!     Some Americans fear gun-owners.  Others fear drug-users or rappers or internet pornographers.  Still others fear Christians or gays or Muslims or immigrants or "rednecks" or prostitutes or employers or landlords.  Both major parties claim that they are the thin line separating their constituencies from the "extremists" and "crazies" and "polluters" and "haters" and "greed" and "sleaze" on the other side.  Thus cowed, voters choose the "lesser evil" to keep those "scary" people at bay.     Libertarians can negate the Wasted Vote Syndrome by encouraging Americans to overcome their fear of each other.  Everyone expects a Druid to seek votes from the "non-Christian minority."  But what if a Druid made protecting the rights of Christian home schoolers a key campaign issue?  It would not only attract media attention, it would cause both Christian fundamentalists and non-Christians to do a double- take.  And perhaps reassess their views of each other.     Counterintuitive campaigning is no panacea.  Ward Connerly, a black Republican opponent of affirmative action, has taken heat for "selling out."  But the backlash comes only because he's been effective.  Outspoken black conservatives have made the GOP both more acceptable, and receptive, to blacks.  (And yet, ever ready to betray even a winning principle, the GOP has distanced itself from Connerly; while wisely, the LP has offered itself as his new political home.)     Although small, the LP is sufficiently diverse to run a broad swath of counterintuitive campaigns.  Simply identify every LP candidate's "scary" attributes, then have him vigorously defend the liberties of the very voters who fear him most.  Don't limit campaigns to the choir.  Campaign among -- and for -- those who see you as the bogeyman.     When Americans stop fearing other Americans, the "greater evil" won't seem so much worse than the "lesser evil."  Then Americans can feel safe voting for their first choice. _________ Libertarian Aaron Biterman also writes on this topic: The Wasted Vote Myth. Thomas M. Sipos's books include Vampire Nation, Manhattan Sharks, and Halloween Candy. Article copyright 2002 by Thomas M. Sipos