Why Voting for a Political Platform is the Only Way to Vote in November.

Political action is accomplished by those that align themselves with the party that they feel best represents their view to better the United States.
Talk of "how things should be" is a great thing.
But please understand in striving for immediate action over incremental and negotiated change WILL NEVER HAPPEN THIS COUNTRY.
Even if big money were out of politics.
There's big religion, spreading the word every Sunday from the pulpit, to vote against anything remotely positive toward gay people, vote against anyone believing a woman's body is her own, and generally against anything promoting the very freedoms they've brainwashed their flocks into believing are in jeopardy.
There's the NRA blindly ignoring exact words in the second amendment to suit the interests but of their members, but of the gun manufacturers.
And there are a whole host of groups spewing forth volumes of misinformation and revisionist narratives, using fear, scare tactics, and dog whistle code words to whip the lame and uneducated into action.
They're not going to stop just so we can have an ideological disagreement over a couple of issues or the timeline to get those issues dealt with.
No, they're waiting in the shadows, like hyenas waiting for the lions to finish their kill, and they'll feed off the bones left behind and handily walk away with victories so big they'll set the progressive path not only back fifty years or more, but they'll eliminate it altogether.
Change the Democratic party from the inside.
Don't try to hijack it before the fact.
Support and join the party and work with the same effort while inside to get the changes you want.  Chances are those of us already entrenched in the party want the same things, but perhaps we need young, fresh new energy to help get them.
I see too many people from the Sanders camp harping on things they knew nothing about before Sanders, in a classic political primary move, brought to their attention to highlight the literal minor details within issues that he and Secretary Clinton had a slight disagreement on, screaming about those issues in forums from TV to social media.
Folks, there's a reason he has said he will vote for her.
Bernie gets it.
Standing by a principle that is bound for defeat does not make you a person of character. It makes you a pawn that the right wing prays for. They know the country has shifted to mostly liberal. But they keep hoping young idealists come along that they can divide from the group of people they most agree with, and sneak across the line first and declare victory. They are a pack of wolves, creating diversion.  And those pledging support to the insane Jill Stein and the wholly incapable Green Party are the answer to the right wing's prayers.
Stop for a moment and think. Let's say every one of Sanders supporters vote for Stein.  She loses.  Most likely, Secretary Clinton and the Democratic party loses. And who wins? Donald Trump.  Not even the Republican party, although I still contest Donald will drop out before November to avoid being a "loser."
Do you win?  Did you make a statement?  What does that statement do?  It puts the hands of the executive branch squarely with a minority of political and religious zealots, who wish to legislate everyone else and their behavior and continue to oppress anyone who doesn't fit their idea of "normal American."
This says nothing of abandonment of ANY progressive ideas who might hold when your "vote against the establishment" results in Donald Trump shaping the balance of the Supreme Court for generations to come.
In the end, make a list of things that are truly important. Important NOW and to your life.  To the right of that list make a check if you think Donald Trump will best represent your view. And to the left if you think Secretary Hillary Clinton would.
If you are truly the liberal progressive you contend to be, the answer will be clear.
And no, Stein or Johnson cannot be on the list.
For even if by some miracle that were elected, they'd have so much opposition from two powerful sides of the spectrum that they'd make the criminal Senate of Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan's do nothing House look like progressive reformers.
The choice is yours.
Show America you and your generation are capable of being realistic and rational while working toward your laudable and idealistic goals.
We want and need you.
But you have to be understanding of how a political system and our democracy works.
If not, we'll fall the way of our Greek forefathers while the much more radicalized Republican Roman empire takes over and you are left moving to another country, if they don't manage to kill you first. ( And that's not hyperbole. I'd tell you to ask the 700,000 Americans who died from AIDS while Reagan and the Republicans politicized a disease, but unfortunately, their voices are now dead.)