Originally Posted By: Owain
Let's suppose that as in Michigan, you get 100% of what you want Jill Stein as a candidate, 70% with Hillary Clinton, but only 10% (or less) with Donald Trump.

Even though Stein is the perfect candidate for you, if she cannot win, voting for her is useless. You are better off getting 70% of the policies you want with Hillary than you are with only 10% or less with Trump.

In warfare, there is a principle known as Divide and Conquer. Liberals allowed themselves to be divided, so they were conquered.

Let's say you have a football team that can win the Superbowl. If you take 11 men on the field, you are unbeatable. Why would you insist on playing two different games, one with 8 players and one with 3 players, guaranteeing defeat?

Seeking your ideal candidate is ok only to the extent that your goal is achievable. If trying for perfection guarantees failure and defeat, you are better off accepting less that perfection.


The problem is that the issue we face is not "lack of perfection", the problem is that the major party offerings are completely abhorrent, and actively harmful. Yet we accept it.

As long as people continue to accept this dynamic, it will continue. If it continues, our society will continue to devolve, taking much of Western civilization with it.

Food for thought: Rhaikh and I both supported the same candidate in the presidential primary. You know both of us, so you should already have a pretty good grasp on the fact that perfectionism is not what I am talking about here.

What I bemoan is how most people lack a line that they refuse to cross. Your team analogy is apt, as most people aren't civic minded in this day and age. Instead, they play for the "team." After seeing Hillary Trumpkin nominated, and the Trump half of the coin winning, I have to wonder if there even exists a line people won't cross, if there is anything or anyone people won't support, with a little cajoling from their respective echo chambers. I suspect that the answer to this is "no," and that future elections will prove that I'm right.

As long as people are caught in the two-party false dichotomy, to the point where they won't even protest when those parties go over the cliff into utter insanity, the political offerings will continue to worsen.

This isn't about getting 70% of "what you want"


For who could be free when every other man's humour might domineer over him? - John Locke (2nd Treatise, sect 57)