I was listening to an NPR show asking whether Sanders supporters would vote for Clinton if she won the primaries and vice versa. It was mostly Sanders listeners calling in unfortunately, but they overwhelmingly said they would not. This isn't a good sample of anything, but it got me thinking: What is the end game for these people? I guess it's admirable to stick to principle, but then again that's what's pissing me off about politics nowadays: adherence to belief. That sounds pretty fucked up when I say that, but that leads to a lack of compromise. Let's go back to 1992: Many Republicans voted for Ross Perot to protest Bush's tax increases after he said he wouldn't... and Clinton won. It seems like those voters shot themselves in the foot over that one.

Politics is a dirty, dirty business. It's nice to get someone who has probity working there and we should all strive to vote such people in, but at the same time we don't want zealots. We need people with pragmatism. Because if you don't, you have shit like the Freedom Caucus that will literally block every law going through congress just because they disagree with one provision. And as a voter, it's better to be pragmatic too. Sure, you don't have to vote for Clinton or Sanders if you don't want to... but why would you? How does this help you? New York state will always go Democrat, but if you're living in Ohio or Colorado, why would you abstain? What's the point?