I know that they are a small number of the population, and that given my circle of friends I have an incredible sample bias. I also understand that as of today this does not look like it will be enough to swing the election. Clinton is currently projected at a 55% probability of winning in a month by fivethirtyeight, and is leading betting odds at 2/5 vs. Trump's 2/1. Even though, if this election turns out be close if Trump doesn't completely implode it is possible we could see a replay of the 2000 election.
Here is the reality. A third party candidate is not going to win and nobody is going to know who you vote for if you don't tell them. We have a first past the post voting system and this means that we have to deal with those effects until we reform our election system. Even worse, we have a delegate system for President, which is why we had the fiasco of 2000 when George Bush got to become President following the Supreme Court awarding him the Florida votes. If enough people were to vote for Jill Stein and Gary Johnson we will end up with a similar situation this year.
The stakes have never been higher right now in Flint, Michigan where the people are drinking lead because the EPA has been unable to do its job due to Congress not giving it the funding it needs to clean up the water supply. There are children right now in Flint Michigan who are drinking lead, an American city. In my opinion, providing one of the basic jobs of government is to not poison your people and to be there to maintain the city's water supply. This has been a basic function of government since the Roman Empire. The government of Michigan and the federal government have failed in their most basic job. Democrats in Congress have proposed to bring in funding for the EPA so they can clean up the water in Flint. The Republicans however, unwilling to give the Democrats the smallest political benefit, have decided that they need to block this along with everything else to prevent the Democrats gaining any tension. That's right, the Republican Party would rather poison thousands of children with lead, a toxin that if I were to touch it in a scientific laboratory I would wear gloves when I touch it because it is so poisonous. Children in Flint currently are drinking this in the water supply in an American city. If you are not outraged by this I do not believe you have a heart.
This is the difference also between Trump and Clinton. They were nominated and voted for by the same people who vote for these members of Congress refused to do the basic jobs of government. To keep your people healthy and keep your people safe the Congress today has failed to do both of those jobs that is not something I'd expect in a country as rich as the United States. That is what I would expect from a third world country. Trump will not comment on this issue, while Hillary Clinton has received support from Jesse Jackson on this issue.
This is what I fully believe if you truly think you are going to waste your vote on Jill Stein or Gary Johnson that you are incredible privileged. That's why I fully believe that if you really think you can waste your vote you are incredibly privileged. Live in a community which has good enough States government that you will not be drinking your water supply. It is sad that I even have to say such a thought would even come into my mind, but that is what today's politics have devolved to over the last decade.
Now, I would love to see rank voting as I have written frequently on this blog. I would love to see multiple parties competing in the marketplace of ideas for our votes to lead our country. I believe such a system would make America a far stronger country than we are today, albeit we are great but we could be so much more if we had that competition of ideas. But the reality is we are not going to have that until we start to have election I have not seen a post on for ballot measures to make it competitive election system anywhere in this country or any state level, and until that happens voting for a third party is a sport will have the spoiler effect.
This is why it is very important to vote for your Democratic politicians this year. Even if they don't share all of your values if you are a mercantilist and Believe free trade is the devil, if you are unhappy with the prosecution of Edward Snowden. Or if you aren't happy with other individual issues with the Democratic party, then at least help you want to have clean water in every American city because that is a very basic fundamental right in this country that we should have a Republican government they don't care if we do not care about them and they have been alive. The detail of the issue is that the Louisiana Senator wants to put in aid to flood victims in Louisiana, and the Democrats agree with putting that in, as long as Flint gets help as well, which the Republicans do not want to do until after the election. Poisoning people is not something that should wait another 4 months, it should happen immediately. On top of this, there is even a hangup on whether we should be funding to combat the Zika virus which is a threat to the world. NPR
The appropriate mature response from Republicans after the Democrats requested funding for Flint should have been "Oh, of course" and then supported the amendment, as opposed to blockading their attempt to serve their constituents. However, this had to be drawn out into a long fight which is inappropriate. Democrats did not oppose the Republican efforts to help the people in Louisiana, they only wanted to make sure that the Federal government served the entire country equitably.
The Republican Party has demonstrated this week that they are absolutely incapable of government. This is what is at stake in this election, and I don't see any other choice but vote for the one party which wants to take care of the entire United States.
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