LawMeme on the Microsoft Decree, me on voting theory

It's pretty pointless for me to go on about how I feel about the Microsoft ruling. But I feel obligated to nonetheless at least register as One More Coder who thinks this is complete bullshit, so that my silence is not interpreted as assent. I'll leave writing the actual opinions to two people who have already done a better job then I could hope to do anytime soon. One, James Grimmelmann on LawMeme, and two, John Robb with both of his points regarding the case.

I'd particularly like to echo John's "In the meantime, enjoy your life (family, friends, work, and play) and vote against every person that represents the status quo." I urge you to vote for anybody other then Republican or Democrat if you feel you can possibly afford it in any given race. I think at this juncture, our votes are much better spent empowering non-status-quo parties, almost regardless of whether you agree with them ideologically (worry about that if they might actually win), then letting the Republocrats and Demlicans continue to do the same ol', same ol'. It's the closest thing we have to a real, meaningful "None of the above" vote. I intend to do this next Tuesday.

All the better if you can find an off-party you agree with. I've mentioned this before, but I am increasingly subscribing to a "tug-of-war" voting theory, where I vote for "the direction I want to see things go" rather then necessarily the exact candidate I want to elect. I think adding to the vote count the Liberatarians get is, in the long run, a more meaningful use of my vote then adding it to the Republican or Democrat pile. Even though I wouldn't necessarily want a government composed entirely of Libertarians, I would like to see them have more real influence, which they might start to have if they can garner some actual percentage of votes. Food for thought, anyhow.