I think that’s a really strong argument for voting with choice you have, not the one you should have.

Not too long ago I would have agreed with you. At this point though, I have come to the realization that the 2 party state can’t be beat simply by a small percentage of people voting with their conscience. As noble as it is, we just can’t win that way. It’s going to take some real organization to win the privilege of being able to vote with our conscience and having a real chance to make change. We are going to have to change the system by doing more than just voting for a 3rd party.

It makes me sad to hear you say voting Greens “weighs heavy” on you though! Democracy often isn’t as strong as it should be, and people are forced between supporting candidates they dislike, or accepting their vote won’t count, but that isn’t your fault!

I may be being too hard on myself and I appreciate your perspective here. We really are stuck between a rock and a hard place when it comes to elections and “democracy” in this country. The consequences are real, though. When I see that many women now have to travel to other states to get an abortion or be forced to have a child they didn’t want it’s hard to not feel some responsibility. I don’t want to wallow in it, though. I want to help bring about some real change. To me, that means doing what I can to do some harm reduction come election time, but then organizing beyond that to make something better. Continuing on our current path is just not sustainable.

I’m a long time 3rd party voter, starting from when I could first vote in the late 90’s. I voted Green in 2016 and it weighs heavily on me right now. As awful as the Clintons are, we have had some real terrible consequences since then. Real people are hurting more because of Trump getting into office.

I still believe that the electoral system needs real change. I still think that the Democrats haven’t done much to help the working class. I’d still rather see all hierarchies flattened and power come from the bottom up. Unfortunately, voting outside of our shitty two party system does nothing to help this.

If we want real change we’re going to have to make it happen. Not with pulling the levers of the state, but with real organizing, mutual aid, and dual power. However, that doesn’t mean pulling the levers of the state isn’t harm reduction. We (I) could have reduced a lot of harm since 2016 if we would have just pulled those levers. It doesn’t take much time to do it, so just do it.