Vote your conscience, not your fear

Come this November, I will have voted in local, county, borough, state and national elections for 50 years as a registered independent voter in three states. Researching the deeds and misdeeds of candidates has always been a prerequisite for my decisions in the booth.
Honestly I have never seen anything quite like what my eyes have seen this presidential race.  Dishonesty, fraud, voter suppression, graft, racism, and misogyny are rampant. The Commission on Presidential Debates has replaced the League of Women Voters as the official sponsor. The new commission is owned 50-50 by the Democratic and Republican Parties. Both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump were provided the questions beforehand. The nonpartisan League of Women Voters, which used to host the debates calls this a sham. 
There are FOUR viable candidates from FOUR parties which are registered in all states. The candidates are Donald Trump, Gary Johnson, Hillary Clinton, and Jill Stein. However TWO credible candidates have been shut out of this years televised debates. 
According to the 2016 analysis by Gallup 42% OF REGISTERED VOTERS ARE INDEPENDENT, 29% are Democrats and 26% are Republicans. Get the picture?
These are staggering figures. The two "major" parties have conned us into believing they are the only realistic choice when they are not. They have conned us into believing that we should fear either Donald or Hillary. Well my fellow voters please look again at the percentages. THE OVERWHELMING BLOCK OF VOTERS ARE INDEPENDENTS. 
Please do not believe the propaganda that if your vote is cast for anyone other than Clinton or Trump it is wasted. Please do your homework on all FOUR candidates and vote for one of them because of their actions not their words. BE BOLD. 
In this great country of ours we deserve the best. Not the best of two corporate media candidates but the best of FOUR viable candidates.  Only then will we resemble a democracy.  "Third party candidates are not worth voting for" you may say. Let me leave you with this. When Abraham Lincoln was elected for the first time he was a third party candidate!
The overused slogan of taking our country back has been diminished to drivel. How about taking our country forward into a new era?  Please vote your conscience, not your fear, this November.
 Henry Cloud

Stevensville