@oliphant I was not part of the chorus calling for Biden to step down. However, Walz is the best campaigner I've seen at the national stage in my life and Harris has run an excellent campaign. Honestly, if Harris loses, we'll all have our hands full dealing with ethnic cleansing to argue about it.

@evan it is likely we have different meanings for "sending a message". If voting "sends a message" that does not affect politics or policy I would not consider that communication.

@evan I have not ever seen that be the case. The winner of an election never alters course in favor of the losers. Now, if those voters engage the political system after the election, that can be effective communication. But the votes themselves have no value outside choosing the winner, again, in my experience.

@evan for example, in 1992 Perot got 19% of the vote. I cite that as evidence that voting third party changes neither politics nor policy.

@evan I'm asking for evidence backing up your statement.

@evan You can name an instance where voting for a third party in the US changed policy?

@evan objectively: voting third party does not send any message.

Objectively: Trump and the Republicans are planning and promising the largest ethnic cleansing in the history of humanity.

@oliphant this resonates with me. I also really wanted to believe that voting 3rd party would "send a message" in safe districts. I never saw that because it's not how things work. I still want it to be true, so I get that in other people. But wanting something to be true does not make it true.

@evan West, Stein, and De la Cruz all oppose support (military, financial) for Ukraine. I suppose it depends on one's definition of "peace" but I don't consider failing to oppose imperialism to be in the cause of peace.

In other words, there is no candidate supporting both Ukrainian and Palestinian liberation.

@evan Not my intent. I didn't want to make assumptions about who you would be considering. Maybe you're planning a write-in. I think the democrats are lucky to not be facing any anti-war / anti-imperialism candidates in the presidential race, nor any candidates who are qualified for the position.

@evan I have seen no evidence that voting for third parties sends any sort of message. Have you? Who would you vote for?

"Everything looks suspicious when you don’t know how anything works."

This is an excellent rallying cry against conspiracy dogma.

Opinion | I ran Twitter’s civic integrity team. Elon Musk knows nothing about how elections are run.

Musk repeated lies that Donald Trump has peddled about mail-in voting and voting technology, including a claim that Dominion helped rig the 2020 election.

MSNBC.com (www.msnbc.com)