3rd Party Voting/Vitriol

People are saying “If you voted third party” then it’s your fault that Trump won.

As I have talked about voting third party, I am going to talk about this too.

First, I am in a solidly blue state, not a swing state, and I have some leeway here. And none of the people I know who voted third party this time lived in a swing state. Their states went blue, okay, even with their third party vote.

Second, I didn’t vote third party this time. I have before and I may again. This time I did not.

Third, someone tell me how to effect reform of a two party system by always voting for one of the two main parties no matter who they shove in front of us.

and finally

maybe not having any viable third party is a real reason that most voters feel disenfranchised and enough voters were despondent enough with the way things are to vote someone into power who is likely to burn it all down

maybe we should have paid attention to that and tried harder to address that situation

maybe

JUST MAYBE

So don’t sit there and preach to me about how the third party voters blew it up.  The system has needed reform for a long time, and by not addressing those needs, we practically guaranteed it would blow up in our fucking faces.

Jill Stein and Gary Johnson and Evan McMullin were laughable candidates?  DID YOU SEE WHO WON?  And tell me again why a reasonable qualified person would run as a third party candidate when they know most states won’t even put them on the ballot?

If the system screws the people over, and YOUR strategy is not about changing that system, you do not get to preach TO ANYONE.

And yes I do understand that it is often necessary to work within a flawed system, but we ALSO have to work to correct those flaws!  Working within a flawed system is a short-term survival strategy only.  This is not a ridiculous stance, people.

If “Did Not Vote” Had Been A Candidate In The 2016 US Presidential Election, It Would Have Won By a Landslide:

Map created by reddit user Taillesskangaru using 270 To Win

(For the record, I definitely endorse abolishing the electoral college, adding third party candidates to ballots in all fifty states and including them in all debates, and adding a “no confidence” option to the ballots- we’ve needed one for decades at the very least.)