Bernstein’s article does much to clarify the issues involved with third-party candidates. However, we can analyze further.
There’s a first category of voters, probably a major portion of the voters, who believe it’s best to vote the bad guy out, even though a third-party candidate would be best for the country. In a second category are people who vote according to their conscience, meaning they vote for who they believe is the best person for the country.
We all know our single vote is just a drop in an ocean of votes, so we are really trying to vote in a way that we imagine all voters should vote. Thus, the first category believes that the country is better off if everyone voted as a group to keep the bad guy out, and they do their duty as a member of that group. But the second group also believes that the country is better off if everyone votes for the candidate that’s best for the country, relying on a trust in basic human nature.
In my view, the second category is superior. A true democracy works best when the consensus of what’s in the heart of most people is allowed to reign. Isn’t that a good definition of a democracy?
I thus refer to the first category of voters as “sausage makers,” in reference to the dirty politics by which Congress is known to operate. And I refer to the second group of voters as “democratic,” because that’s exactly what it is.
It’s amazing to me how many people want to make sausage with their voting, and then condemn the sausage-making by congresscritters.