I’m all for changing the way elections work in this country. First past the post is an objectively terrible way to do democracy, and there are more than a few better systems available.

But how do you get to those systems, and what do you do in the meantime? Sure, third party candidates can sometimes squeak by in smaller local races, and they should! That’s a great way to build up power and credibility and try to make larger changes! But that process is not going to happen overnight, and something has to be done in the meantime. That’s where harm reduction and choosing your opposition tells us we must vote for Democrats if a viable alternative is not available. You can plan to break Democrats’ duopoly of power with Republicans, but until that day comes you’ve got to acknowledge the political realities and that you would rather oppose a Democrat in power than a Republican in power.

Unless you’re an accelerationist who wants things to get worse, faster, so that a collapse or civil war will happen sooner, in which case I’m not sure we’ve got much of anything we’ll agree on.