NoahsArcade84

Would you consider this AMA a triumph?

It's hard to overstate my satisfaction... that Ellen McLain responded to me!

Thank you for this. Everyone talks so big about getting rid of the two-party system, but they don't seem to care until the Presidential Primaries are over and they don't like the candidates. Waiting until August of an election year to start ranting about Jill Stein or Gary Johnson on Facebook is like buying a Titans jersey to wear to Super Bowl 50.

If you want more options, vote for the green party or libertarian party or whatever third party candidate in your local elections, all of them, all year round, not just every 4 years. And campaign for them. Make it your business to change the system. Because it's going to take decades for this system to change.

But to sit around once every 4 years with your arms crossed like "I'm not voting for either because the system is dumb." Is the most edgy teenager non-answer I've heard since.. well... Trump at the debates last night.

But the point is change is incremental. Imagine if everyone who wanted to legalize marijuana stayed home and refused to vote for medical marijuana, because it wasn't exactly what they were hoping for, you would never have gotten legal recreational marijuana anywhere. You are given options, pick the one that inches toward your beliefs, and in the meantime, get out there and do something about it, or be quiet and accept the options you're given. Or not be quiet, but stop talking down to me like you're better than me for throwing your vote away.

All of that being said, if you live in a state that is going to go landslide for one of the Presidential candidates, and your vote is already symbolic, then I see no problem in choosing a third-party candidate as long as you take all of the local stuff seriously. But I shudder at the thought of people in battle-ground states throwing their vote away on an idealistic candidate. If you live in Ohio, or Pennsylvania, or Florida, and you vote for Gary Johnson or Jill Stein, I'll make you a deal: How about we trade votes. I'll vote for your favorite third-party candidate here in AZ if you promise to vote for Clinton with your actually valuable vote in a swing state. Then you still get your symbolism without letting Donald Trump into the White House.