"We have to make compromises when there's a fascist on the ballot."
"Why was the fascist allowed to be on the ballot in the first place?"
"..."
"What will the allegedly non fascist party do to prevent fascists from getting on the ballot next time?"
"..."
"Weren't members of the allegedly non-fascist party responsible for helping the current fascist win the 2016 primaries?"
"..."
"Weren't historical fascist movements able to rise to power despite electoral defeats?"
"Well what are you doing about it? At least I'm voting!"
That’s the real issue this time,” he said. “Beating Nixon. It’s hard to even guess how much damage those bastards will do if they get in for another four years.”
The argument was familiar, I had even made it myself, here and there, but I was beginning to sense something very depressing about it. How many more of these goddamn elections are we going to have to write off as lame, but “regrettably necessary” holding actions? And how many more of these stinking double-downer sideshows will we have to go through before we can get ourselves straight enough to put together some kind of national election that will give me and the at least 20 million people I tend to agree with a chance to vote for something, instead of always being faced with that old familiar choice between the lesser of two evils?
Now with another one of these big bogus showdowns looming down on us, I can already pick up the stench of another bummer. I understand, along with a lot of other people, that the big thing this year is Beating Nixon. But that was also the big thing, as I recall, twelve years ago in 1960 – and as far as I can tell, we’ve gone from bad to worse to rotten since then, and the outlook is for more of the same.
-Hunter S. Thompson, Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72
My politics aren't really on the ballot, however I really hate the idea that if you vote for something you believe in you're somehow doing democracy wrong. I have never understood the vote shaming rhetoric (especially for people voting for Green party or PSL or anything outside of the primary binary). If you vote for the things you want, you're doing democracy correctly. Even if you are voting for things I don't like or hate, if you and your stupid ass are voting for your stupid ass values, you're technically doing democracy correctly (and stupidly).