The great comic vaudevillian, actor, and writer W.C. Fields once said, “Hell, I never vote for a candidate, I always vote against.”

Fields died in 1946.

I’m 61. I’ve been voting for a while. During most of my life I haven’t voted for a presidential candidate, I’ve voted against one.

Calling any choice in an election “the lesser of two evils” obviously makes it seem abhorrent and unappetizing, and I know that many voters today — especially younger ones — refuse to accept it. (Truth in advertising: at the age of 25 I voted for John Anderson in 1980 because I couldn’t stand Jimmy Carter.)

Just bear in mind that whoever wins in November could select three Supreme Court justices. (Ginsburg is 83; Kennedy is 80.) If you miss Scalia and would like to see him replaced by kindred spirits, Trump’s your man. If, on the other hand, you favor abortion rights, marriage equality, and similar socially liberal values, Clinton’s your candidate. However much either may disappoint you, the power to name Supreme Court justices is the power to shape the social policy legal landscape for at least a generation. It ain’t trivial.