Nader voting allows Bush to get elected in 2000 -> *16 years later, the repercussions of this election are still being felt* "Hey everyone, vote 3rd party again! Ignore the mistakes we made in the past because spite is more important than harm reduction!" -> Trump wins the 2016 election despite wild unpopularity.
Look, I put up with a decade of Stephan Harper despite an average of only 40% of the country voting for him, because of the unwillingness of the left to come together when it mattered. Can I please make it clear, with this memory still fresh in my mind, that you really should be learning from your mistakes. And if you won't learn from your own mistakes, learn from ours.
It's not "harm reduction", Hillary isn't my candidate and never was. Voting for her is as bad as voting for Trump, perhaps for different reasons, but just as bad in ultimate outcome. It's not a mistake to learn from, and besides that, Nader isn't why Bush won the election, political intrigue is why Bush won the election. Not that even Bush was bad as all that, looking back on it now.
I, nor anyone else for that matter, are obligated to be affiliated as "Approved Dem (Subclass Sanders)" and then default to "Approved Dem (Subclass Clinton)" if Sanders leaves the race entirely, runs indie, or even endorses Clinton.
And it's that sense of god damned
entitlement to my political support that is most odious of all. Why not just do away with the pretense all together if I'm supposed to be told who to vote for? Fuck your politics.