I don't know who I'm going to vote for until I close the
   curtain. I want maximum data. I don't have enough yet. Data
   that's sans hyperbole is hard to find, so I have to find the
   signal through the noise. I took the "Isidewith" political
   compass test, and I came up as extremely strong for Sanders. So,
   logically, that would be my choice. At the same time, I'm
   listening. I can see where different leaders could accomplish
   different goals, some of which might be beneficial to the USA
   and some detrimental. So, could I see an effective Trump
   presidency? yes I can. I can also see an effective Clinton
   presidency. Cruz? Not so sure. But there's checks and balances
   there too. And for me, that's the thing: The strong checks and
   balances is what makes me NOT worry so terribly about the person
   "on top". Yes, they can declare war. Yes, they can assign
   justices once old justices die, changing the decisions of the
   supreme court to favor one side or the other. Yes, they can veto
   bullet-hole riddled bills that make it through the cacophony of
   congress. BUT: overall, the system seems to work well enough.
   So, I don't know. That's my answer. I honestly don't know.
   Here's an alt.opinion of Sanders from Garry Kasperov, chess
   champion. Mind you, he's just a guy with an opinion but it's
   pretty cool to see what bigshots think. Whether they're wrong or
   right, still makes for interesting opinions. == Sure it does.
   It's being counted. You see the numbers, and the 8 at the end
   turns to a 9. With the OTHER STUFF on the ballet, the vote
   absolutely matters, even if not the presidency, ESPECIALLY with
   the stuff for local elections. That stuff can DIRECTLY impact
   your day-to-day life. No, you're wrong. Voting matters. Even if
   you write in Deeznuts for president, you participated in the
   process. Of course you could choose to abstain from voting at
   all. I know a LOT OF PEOPLE who don't vote, and a number of
   people are going to give up on voting if they feel that Sanders
   won't win. == it's not a democracy. The USA is an oligarchy with
   the veneer of a representative democracy. So what? That's the
   Fed level. State and local levels _are_ representative
   democracies. == You're right. It is. It's just sometimes easy
   start 'feeling down' because life isn't Utopia but relatively
   speaking, I got nothing to complain about and I'm grateful for
   that. == I don't really care who ends up president. Trump? Fine.
   Sanders? Fine. Clinton? Fine. Deeznutz? Fine. But it's for all
   the other stuff that it matters. Local and state elections.
   Local issues. Even disregarding the issues at hand in any given
   election, being part of the process does one amazing thing: It
   gives you the right to complain when things aren't going your
   way. == The next prez will reverse it, even Clinton, just like
   Obama reversed "No Child Left Behind". It took a while, but many
   of the pet policies of past presidents usually end up being
   thrown out or revised heavily so the "new guy/gal" can make
   their mark. == I'm glad they trashed it. It put the nails in the
   coffin for Common Core. My nephew (5th grade) has suffered with
   1.5 yrs of it now, and yeah, it's shit. == I heart emoticon
   Carlin. He was a mentor, a father figure to me and he was right
   about a LOT of things. _however_, he was dead wrong on a few,
   and this is one of them. == But Brett, that's like complaining
   that you didn't ask to be born. We're born in a society we
   didn't choose to be. It's set up in a way we didn't choose. Ok.
   That happened. Now you're here. What you provided is not, imo, a
   good reason not to vote. It's not making a stand. It's becoming
   invisible. = To be fair, I don't rally during the primaries and
   I make nearly the same arguments as you did regarding the
   primaries. So, I'm a hypocrite. But I still believe in
   participating in voting. I don't ALWAYS vote, but I believe in
   showing up. == When a parent gives a child a toy, the child
   thinks they own the toy and have rights to the toy. But they do
   not own the toy. The parents own the toy. The child has no right
   to the toy except that granted by the parents. == Well, tbh,
   what I think what would happen is that it would expose naked the
   _actual_ political processes that do most of the work for that
   they are and that would be embarrassing to those in power.
   They'd have to admit we're federally an oligarchy. It's a
   tempting thought but I think what it does instead is lowers the
   amount of people's votes who do count, making their votes count
   more in the portion of the election process where votes have
   some influence. Fewer people, louder voices. Concentrations of
   power. Ability to influence the electorate. == Personally? I
   like being a fly in the ointment. == I know we had to go off the
   gold standard. Still, there's an attractiveness to having a
   tangible.