To those considering voting for a third party candidate as a protest vote:
When I did research for my book The Revolution of Evelyn Serrano I read up on some of the leaders of the The Young Lords, a group of Puerto Rican political activists of the late 1960’s.
I was struck how many of them; now in their late 60’s are still, or were activist long after their participation in the Young Lords, was over. The list includes Denise Oliver, who is a professor and contributing editor for progressive political blog Dailey Kos; Juan Gonzalez, who was an activist journalist for the Daily News for over fifty years; and finally Richie Perez, who advocated for minority rights until his death in 2004.
The Young Lords Party had a relatively short life span, but these people never threw their hands up in despair and left the table.
Voting for a third-party candidate is a way of making your voice heard, yes, but it will only give you momentary satisfaction. I suggest you consider America in the long run. Our next president will choose at least one Supreme Court Justice that we will have to live with for a very long time. Maybe even after both candidates are long gone.
Supreme Court decisions have impact for many years. The Dred Scott case of 1857, wherein it was decided that persons of African descent could not or were ever intended to be citizens under the U.S. Constitution, caused untold suffering to many for a very long time. We will have to live with Citizens United, a Supreme Court decision that allows corporations to contribute to campaign funds, for many years to come. Consider the ramifications of inadvertently enabling Trump to appoint a Supreme Court judge: The impact will last much longer than the satisfaction of casting a protest vote. Instead, why not use the energy of your disgust to elect Clinton and then hold her feet to the fire on the issues you believe in?
I urge you to stay at the table.