"Speaking of belly-aching.
I expect I'll vote for Trump, though he was certainly not my first choice. That being said, quit lecturing the third-party voters. They have their reasons, just as you will have your reasons, when the Republicans finally nominate someone that even you and I can't stomach (and I've been there twice, already). If you're going to grouse, save it for the people that stuck the party with a less-than-unifying candidate.
And for the third-partyites, if you can't vote for the GOP candidate, then don't. Give your reasons if you like, but forego the moralizing and put-downs. We all have to use our best judgment here, and we don't all reach the same conclusion.
Can't we all just get along?"
Well, everyone is entitled to an opinion and as such others can judge it. If I think something is stupid, I might reflect on it, then maybe I'll say it. This forum isn't necessarily for all of us to get along. It's about conversation, ideas and the like. I have seen snark of the highest order on occasion since I've been a member...from the beginning.
I do, as a matter of fact, believe that one vote can have a large impact. I was elected to public office and served my fellow citizens in several appointed positions as well as serving in LE. I managed to have a positive impact in that regard on a number of occasions as one voice who convinced others. It works better in the micro environment than in the macro. I've been around the block. Sometimes I'm blunt. That is not rare on this forum, by the way. I'm older than most here and was trained at a young age to pay attention to stuff. We have a two party system in this country that has been challenged woefully on a number of occasions. Usually it led from a bad thing to something getting worse, ala Perot. It is not likely to change from that or have any other impact this time around, either. That's why it's stupid. You can yearn for change and work for change. It ain't gonna happen. To many Americans are ignorant, misled, lazy, uninformed or dogmatically oblivious. The Tea Party went at it pretty hard and was doing it the right way at first. It got trampled to death by the organization that it should have invigorated...the Republican Party. So there you go.
Our Republic as we have known it is dying. It can be salvaged, maybe. But it ain't gonna happen by sitting on your heiney in a snit wondering why we can't all get along. It ain't gonna happen by sulking, daydreaming and voting for some 3rd or 4th party candidate than no one ever heard of either. Or wishing for some weird thing to occur...wait, a weird thing has occurred. I'd rather go down watching that weird thing that actually exists now...that is Donald Trump than enduring 4 years of that annoying, shrill, caricature of a woman, which is what we'll get again if you stay home or vote for some sure thing loser because you're dreaming about something that isn't gonna happen.
OK, ban me now.
