Should I not do the right thing because others refuse to do the right thing? I don't know why you're lecturing me. I didn't set this system up. I'm just doing my part to make it better. If others refuse to help, that's on them. Personally, I think that your refusal to help us is making our country worse, but I recognize that as your right and your choice. I don't think that your choice is a good one, but I will not get up on a high horse and judge you for your decision.
The problem with American politics right now is that it has become mired in a particular mode of thinking, a mode of thinking rooted in fear and complacency, and it is very difficult to break out of that mode.
It's painfully clear watching the interplay in this thread and elsewhere that the Democratic party supporters have become very cynical, and are unhappy with anything that challenges their cynicism. Everyone knows that the party establishment in both of the major parties is controlled more by Wall Street than by the people. They complain about it constantly, but they still prop up the system that allows that situation to continue, because they have become so locked into the mindset that they cannot even conceive of an alternative. Voters have gotten so used to voting for evil out of sheer terror of an alternate even (one cannot even always call it a greater evil), that they are uncomfortable with the idea of a truly idealistic candidate, a candidate that is not actually evil.
Likewise, humans are programmed by evolution to prefer the familiar. Even when the familiar is abusive, harmful, even outright self-destructive, we still stick with it because change is even more frightening to the vast majority of us. We realize what we are doing, and through a collective cognitive dissonance, we create elaborate justifications for supporting a familiar we dislike, and opposing a change to something better. The "lesser evil" justification is just one of many, but the most obvious and effective. It takes a feeling of utter desperation to motivate people to make the effort to really change their circumstances and mindset. The most cynical tend to describe this as "pragmatism", and deride principled voters as unrealistic idealists.
We can see this reflected in the steadily decreasing voter turnouts. Overall, less than 60% of Americans vote in presidential elections, and 40% in mid-term election. By state, this looks even worse. In 2014, half the states had less than half the eligible voters turn out. There are many reasons for this, but the main one is simply people being afraid to fight against the familiar, and a sense of hopelessness resulting from being continually presented with a choice of evil vs. evil vs. "unelectable" good. It's clear from the numbers that a good candidate could be electable, if able to sufficiently motivate the voters and break through their cynicism and fear. We're seeing the beginnings of that with Sanders' campaign. Even if he fails to get elected, he has already proven that people can and will respond to such a candidate; and even a failure opens up opportunities for similar candidates in the future. Whether those opportunities lead to improvements, or are squandered through continued fearmongering and apathy, only history will determine. We've seen changes for the good happen before, and I'm willing to believe that we have not all become so cynical that it could not happen again.
