I've been debating to myself whether or not voting for a third party candidate (Either PSL's de la Cruz or Green's West, regardless of my criticisms for both) would be the most "effective" use of my time in election season this year. The argument for "not" is that maybe voting at all is bad because it legitimizes this system, even if a third party candidate getting a record turnout would grab more attention (and piss off Blue MAGA cultists) than simply not going since it's not like abysmal turnouts, even by this country's historical standards, are newsworthy at this point. So I guess I have to ask how you people rationalize voting or not this year?
I fully understand that this is more symbolic than anything else and won't materially affect change for a while but it's still something to think about.
Tell them "a dem vote in a safely blue state is a bigger waste than 3rd party. If a 3rd party gets over 5% of the popular vote nationally, they start to get access to public campaign funds. At least your vote might accomplish something."
I personally don't know if 3rd party votes do much, but as long as we're debating "wasted votes," dem in a safe blue state is the ultimate waste.