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What say you?
"Maybe I’m not sure what he’s getting at here, but this reeks of collectivism to me. If I understand correctly, in voting for Barr instead of McCain, I somehow 'end up damaging the group.' Really?"
No, and I don't think my comments say anything close to that. The free riding problem is just a way of saying that if too many people say "Screw this, it's not worth voting", then the process is captured by those with a higher self-interest in the outcome, and those people tend to be collectivists. So this is actually recommending standing up to the collectivists by taking the time to get out and vote for your preferred candidate.
OK, that makes sense to me.
I was directed to your comment as a reference dispelling my argument that you're better off voting your preference (even if that means third-party), than you are to "hold your nose" and vote for your second preference in order to "beat" the third guy.
I am definitely not a believer in "hold your nose" voting, and the once or twice I've done it in my lifetime, I always ended up regretting it. I've voted for a lot of Libertarian candidates over they years. I met Harry Browne that way, and I used to fix his home computer network for him (he lived a few miles from my house).
I love you man. You blog so I don't have to.