Yeah, it'd be great to see more 3rd party candidates in down ballot races. Should your first seat at the table nationally be the presidency?

Easy to be idealist when you never hold office. 3rd parties never have to show where they would comprise, because they are not running for these higher offices in a meaningful way.

The republican agenda is so profoundly awful, and the US electorate has not yet resoundly rejected it. Meanwhile, we're too busy "trying to send a message" to recognize that the democrats are the only party even marginally open to progressive policies. Depending on where you live, there are a lot of groups pushing for election reform, and many places where that will be on the ballot. Get involved, help make that change happen...but you can do that and also flush the big orange turd.

How did I get dragged into this in a joke thread??

1. The two-party system is destroying the country.
2. Resoundly reject the party that is actively pushing for a weird christofascist state. <-- the us electorate has not yet done this!
3. Actively push for election reform <-- AK, AZ, CO, DC, ID, MT, NV, OR, and SD will all have ballet initiatives this November regarding election reform. VOTE!
4. Get involved with organizations that are moving to further the causes you care about, and get active in politics.

Voting for president is the smallest part of civic participation, not the end-all-be-all

Nope, but as with so many discussions of this nature, this question misses the nuance of why women's sports exist.

Hey fellow Montanan! Check out Big Sky Rail Authority's arguments for implementing a southern passanger rail service, or think of the benefits of increased bus service connecting the larger Montana cities. We have main travel corridors across the state that could be greatly improved by a public transportation network, linking rural communities and connecting them to larger city centers. Combine that with local bus service, walkable communities, and biking infrastructure in places where it can be supported like Missoula, Bozeman, Billings, etc can improve traffic and livability of the towns. Also, think of the improvement to traffic conditions for people coming into town from surrounding rural communities if you can divert a good portion of traffic to public options. In a rural state like ours, there's always going to be some need for personal vehicles, but there's still lots of places where having more public transportation options could improve our communities and lessen our climate impacts. Sure, it's going to look different than in other parts of the country, but still a lot of room for improvement around here.

You are misgendering her.

Didn't see the NPR article, but this absolutely rings true to me. I live in a blue city in a red state. We were littered by Green Party ads for the primaries that were funded by right wing groups. I wouldn't say that the far left and far right are working together, but the right is for sure posing as leftist in local outlets and actively encouranging the left's tendency to eat their own.