Oh, please spare us the dramatics. For someone so "befuddled and perplexed," you seem awfully certain that you're the sole voice of reason and insight. Saying every candidate is just an "empty vessel" controlled by the establishment is oversimplifying things. Elections have real stakes, which causes actual shifts depending on who is in power. Pretending it's all the same dismisses those differences and ignores progress made through real activism and voting. The kind of cynicism you're drowning in actually helps the establishment. It convinces people to give up, which hands more power to those already running the show.
No one is saying that voting is perfect, but it's still a tool that matters, especially when paired with real organizing. Third-party votes might sound appealing, but in a winner-takes-all system, and without changes like ranked-choice voting, they're empty gestures. I'm not sorry to say that as someone who pays attention, and not just every four years, there are clear differences between the parties, and I am going to make *my* choice based on those differences. And yea, at times it feels like a compromise, especially in a general election, but sitting out or throwing away your vote only guarantees the worst outcomes. And maybe that's what some of you want, but I don't.
I am sick of the hollow, self-satisfied "vote third party" platitude from people like you, too. fukk Jill Stein.
