Agreeing with this sort of thinking allows the ruling class to manipulate you into voting for any candidate whatsoever. All they have to do is make sure his opponent is a nightmare, and you'll duly go pull the lever for the lesser evil.
I'm done voting for evil.
re: “I’m done voting for evil.”
The problem with this is that all of us are evil and sinners. No candidate is going to be all that we want. No candidate, aside from Jesus, and He isn’t on the ticket, is going to be free from evil.
The truth is you are ALWAYS voting for the man/woman who represents LESS EVIL. The candidates you like have the least evil (as far as you perceive it) as opposed to the ones who appear to have the MOST evil.
You are either voting for less evil or more evil - there are no other choices.
Look at it this way - you have to decide which candidate represents more of what you support, and, vote against the candidate who represents the least of what you support.
If Candidate A is 50% of what you want, and Candidate B is 40% of what you want - which one do you vote for?
Now, of course you will say, “What about Candidate C?” He/she is 90% of what you want but has a snowballs chance in Hades to be elected.
If you vote your “conscience”, you feel good because you voted for the one you thought was best, yet the kicker is, you divided the opposition against the WORST candidate, thus, helping the WORST one to win.
It’s simple math. It is absolutely certain that dividing the vote helps one of two main party candidates - not the third party candidate.
If you want better main party candidates, you have to get involved in that party - i.e. join the party, attend local precinct meetings, volunteer for stuff, help in campaigns, etc. In other words, the more involved you are in the day to day workings of your local party, the more you can influence which candidates make it to the top tier for consideration.
If all you do is wait for “other” people in the party to choose who the candidates will be, but you’ve had no involvment and therefore no influence - why be surprised that you always wind up with having to choose among candidates you don’t like very much. Involvment is the key to influencing local, state, and ultimately national candidates.
But, as I said, you will always be choosing between the lesser of two, or three, or four evils. But, the worst candidate is usually the one who benefits the most from dividing the opposition against him.
So, Oberon - choose to vote for LESS evil. Yes, it stinks but that’s just the way it is.