Voting with your brain instead of your heart: the tactical fight against the greater evil

Look, our election system is deeply flawed. If you want to work on reforming it, I would be glad to be an ally. However, for this election cycle, the insane first-past-the-post, state-by-state, Wyoming-votes-count-more-than-California-votes system is what we have.

In that system, voting for a third party candidate really is like walking up to the roulette table in Vegas and trying to place a bet on purple. I’m pretty sure you’d be able to find a place that would let you do it if you tried because there would be no way you could win. Your choices at the roulette table are red or black. Sure, purple is a color — but it isn’t one that will win. And the House doesn’t care about whatever statement you think you are making by betting on purple. It will just take the chips and laugh.

In our system, your choices are Clinton or Trump. It is my considered opinion that the most important political act I have engaged in during the course of my life will be handing a historic defeat to the teeny-handed bigot and his thuggish army of racists.That means voting for Hillary.

Stein doesn’t even poll highly enough to be statistically relevant. Johnson polls nationally at around 7% but will not get a single electoral college vote. They can’t win. The system isn’t designed to let them have a chance. Whatever statement you think you are making, the reality is that votes for Stein or Johnson increase the chance of a Trump win. He’ll just take the chips and laugh.

Politics is the art of the possible. It is about effecting change in the world, not about feeling good. If you want to feel good, go to a shelter and offer to walk a dog that would otherwise spend his day in a cage. When you go to vote, be pragmatic. Be tactical.

(Look for Part 2 in this series: “Why Jill Stein Shouldn’t Be President Even if She Could be Elected, Which She Can’t.”)