I am going to throw my vote away. I'm going to shitcan it, toss it in the round file, compost it, drag it to the trash and delete that sucker! How? I've changed my voter registration to a small alternative party.

For most of my voting life I've been a registered Democrat, with brief periods registered as a "non-affiliated voter," Oregon's way of saying I've registered as an independent voter. During the Vietnam war I belonged to the Peace and Freedom party. The Republicans wouldn't have me (nor I them) since I refuse to meet their two basic requirements for party membership: Leave your sense of compassion at the door and worship the All Mighty Dollar first and foremost.

But I usually registered as a Democrat because I was afraid of "throwing my vote away." The logic: Voting for anyone other than a candidate from either of the two major political parties is just a waste, since the alternative candidates don't stand a snowball's chance in hell.

But I have come to believe that I have thrown away virtually every vote I've cast for a political candidate since I cast my first presidential vote for George McGovern way back in '72, arguably one of the most intelligent and compassionate presidential candidates in this century.

The major differences between the Democrats and Republicans started to disappear during the Reagan years. The Demos basically handed Reagan the keys to the store, even though they still had a majority in Congress. It had become obvious to the Democrats that even a pretense of consideration for the poor and disenfranchised people of this country was no longer popular with the majority of voters.

So they joined the Reagan Revolution and gave him virtually everything he wanted. You want to cut taxes and increase military spending and create a humongous budget deficit that will affect future generations seemingly forever? You want to gut environmental safeguards so your fat-cat friends can make a little more profit at the expense of everyone else? You want to gut whatever regulatory power the federal government has in the name of "cutting Big Government?" Hey--no problemo! Where do I sign on to the "revolution?"

But eventually many voters grew weary of the depressing "Winter of Reagan" and yearned for a "kinder, gentler" America. Many people were ready to allow a little compassion back into the political process. And so the Democrats gave us Bill Clinton.

My wife Marilyn was so hopeful about Clinton (and Hillary...) that she sent the Demos a contribution. It wasn't much by campaign financing standards; around $100 or so. But it was significant for us because we had never donated money to a candidate before.

But what a disappointment Clinton has been! Not his sexual meanderings; I couldn't care less what he does in that area of his life. I am appalled by his lack of good judgment while living in a glass house. But Clinton lost me long before we ever heard of Monica.

His initial clumsy handling of the homosexuals in the military issue was a terrible choice for his first big battle with Congress, wasting an enormous amount of political good will on a problem that could have waited while he built his Washington power base. And then he could have just signed an Executive Order telling the military to quit worrying about the sexual proclivities of its soldiers, period. After all, he is the Commander-In-Chief.

And then there was the attempt to restructure the health care system, which started out on such a hopeful note but then crashed and burned because once again Clinton didn't lead--he compromised and finagled and tried to appease his opponents until the reforms first proposed metamorphosed into the HMO situation we have today. It soon became apparent that this way of handling the tough issues would be Bill Clinton's modus operandi for the rest of his presidency. He has straddled the middle of the fence so well that he stands for nothing at all.

So here we are in 1998. A while back I saw Gore Vidal interviewed by Charlie Rose. In response to a question about today's political scene Vidal replied, "Congress is a group of lawyers paid by corporations to do their bidding. They no longer represent the average person and people know this." It hit me then-and-there that I no longer wanted to even appear to support the current political process in America.

The first and easiest thing to do would be to change my party affiliation on my voter registration. Now what to change to? I'm intrigued by the Libertarians but I suspect they're actually closet Republicans with a screw loose. I love the idea of government staying out of so-called "victimless crimes" and other areas of its citizens' private lives but the idea of doing away with all government regulation whatsoever scares the bejesus out of me. The track record of people allowed to plunder without restraints is not too good.

And then like magic one day I stumbled across a Green Party website. Right in front of me was their Mission Statement; I couldn't believe what I was reading. It started by stating that "The Pacific Party" (its name in Oregon) strives for cultural diversity and gender balance and believes in a limited government whose legitimate functions include: "Ensuring equal rights for all...that basic human rights are met...meaningful work...restoring the natural environment...promoting energy conservation...addressing the struggle of Native peoples...ensure the right to privacy...promoting an open, accessible, and truly democratic process." This is a political party?

I don't care that my local PBS station decided to not allow any third party candidates to participate in a locally televised debate. It was decided by the station that they were going to follow the League of Women Voters stand that "serious" candidates were those who had at least 10% of the voting public behind them according to a survey. So much for an open democratic process. So much for PBS being an alternative to network television.

Yes, I'm going Green. Last night I ran into a friend at the local elementary school track where Marilyn and I often take our nightly walk. The subject of Clinton and politics in general came up and I told Lynn of my decision. Not surprisingly she replied, "How can you do that? Do you want the Republicans to have a veto-proof president in the White House?" And I said I'm no longer going to vote for the lesser of two evils. Neither the Democrats nor Republicans need my help; the way they're going the political process as we know is going to self-destruct. And I am willing to take my chances with a different system.

So I am going to throw my vote away and feel good while I am doing it. I'm going to vote for Blair Bobier, the Pacific Party candidate for Oregon governor. I like his smile and the fact that his stand on the issues means it's a lost cause. In my short life I've seen enough "lost causes" become effective movements to make me hopeful about taking this stand. It sure beats the alternative.

Gregory Leiber is a loyal ETS! reader in southern Oregon. Copyright Gregory Leiber 1998.