[Man50D]

So then how exactly does sitting on my hands and not voting for a less than ideal Republican nominee, thereby helping to elect a radical socialist Democrat, help anything?

Wrong question. The correct question is how would voting for a GOP socialist over a Democrat socialist prevent the country from going further down the path of socialism?

[joonbug]

Since FDR, this country has been getting progressively more socialistic. One party moves this process much faster than the other. Ideally we reverse this trend, but I don’t see this happening (by who and how will they get elected?) so I choose the slower path rather than the fast track. Withholding my vote or voting for a third party candidate who has no chance of winning is a vote for the fast track toward more socialism. Find a third party candidate who is a true conservative with a real chance of winning, and you have my vote. Or we change into a parliamentary system where a conservative party can gather enough votes to influence the ruling government.