@sillystring @freemo I guess voting for a third option is always better than sitting out. It signals that you're malcontent with the broken 2-party system.

@stevenroose

When I see good third party candidates I do and will vote for them. I vote for who is best. So far not a single competent third party candidate has stood up yet though. So unless that changes I'm in a pickle

@sillystring@infosec.exchange

@freemo @sillystring I can believe it's hard to motivate people to join a party of which you know it will never have much relevance, though.

I was recently imagining that if Bernie gets bamboozled by the Dem Party again, he could start a new socialist party to shake things up a bit :) That'd be fun to watch..

@stevenroose

During the Hillary Primaries I was a big Bernie supporter. I thought his policies were horrific but I was willing to give him my support because I beleived he had integrity.

Then when the superdelegates screwed him over and a very evil lady (Hillary) won I was pissed. But then I saw Bernie support the democratic party and even lend his support to Hilary. To see him support someone so corrupt and guilty of almost constant lying caused me to realize he did not have the integrity I thought he had. In that moment he guaranteed I would always vote against him in any future election.

@sillystring@infosec.exchange

@freemo @sillystring I think that's quite a silly standpoint. What should he have done? He had probably 2 main options: support Hillary and maximize the chances the democrats, his party, would win the election or totally go against his party which would quite ensure Trump's victory and jeopardize any chance he has left to become the presidential nominee for the party in a future election.

I don't think he can be blamed for handling the incredibly shitty situation the Dem. Party put him in.

@stevenroose

Well part of the problem is that he has party loyalty, rather than personal integrity. The fact that he would support a corrupt lying politician for the sake of party loyalty is disgusting to me.

If he cares more about winning an electrion than doing what is right then he already lost in my mind.

PErsonally if he had called out the immoral behavior of his party and became an independent then he would have had my vote thats for sure. Would it have lost him the election in the future, yea probably, but therein lies the problem, having integrity often means you wont win the election, which is exactly why we dont have presidents with integrity.

@sillystring@infosec.exchange

@freemo @sillystring Which is why you better vote for the candidate with the least bad integrity. You can't compare not abandoning the party with what others have done. No other current democratic candidate abandoned the party either when Hilary won.

@stevenroose

I aree, you should. Sadly thats clearly not Biden, Warren, or Bernie

@sillystring@infosec.exchange

@freemo @sillystring I can't help but think you're being ridiculous with that position.

When it comes to integrity, being truthful to what you preach and honestly planning to try their best to fulfill every campaign promise made, Bernie is clearly ahead of other candidates.

And as a pragmatist, it's understandable that he sometimes has to defend the Dem party in matter he might not fully agree with, because the party is his only chance to get his ideas into the White House.