The vote is functional. You advocate voting for functional leftists and argue that their court appointees would be "better" than the functional leftists you voted "against."
When those Republican leftists get in office and advance the left agenda with your sanction and approval because your vote PUT THEM IN OFFICE, will you be here wailing that you didn't vote for that, you voted "against" the Democrats? One thing -- you will fail to be accountable for what you voted FOR.
If my vote for a limited government third-party candidate creates a plurality win for either a Romney-style Republican or a Hillary-style Democrat, that will be something worth voting FOR because it will weaken leftism in both parties. If miracle happened and the limited government third party candidate won on a plurality, so much the better. I am happy to be accountable for any of it.
Here’s my philosophy.
The Democrats are not a political party, they are an organized criminal enterprise. I will never vote for a Democrat as long as I still draw a breath. NEVER.
I will always vote. Sitting home and pouting does not make sense to me.
Voting for some third party candidate is usually a fruitless exercise. I believe that those who voted for Perot were misguided and I doubt that I would follow suit unless I could see a way forward for a Conservative Party that supplants the Republicans.
That means that I will always vote for the Republican candidate in the general. But, in the primary I will not vote for some GOPe phony who pretends to be conservative come election time. I will not vote for Senator Roberts in the primary this year, but he will get my vote in the general (he will win the primary).
Fortunately, I haven’t had to vote for any lefties on the Republican ticket here in Kansas, but I’ll never vote Democrat and I won’t throw away my vote.