In the last day or two I've watched a couple of broadcasts on Democracy Now: http://www.democracynow.org/ about the current election and third parties.

One had as guests Chris Hedges and Robert Reich and the other had Jill Stein and Ben Jealous. They were interesting but I came away with a nagging feeling that Hedges and Stein were missing a good argument. I just realized what that argument was, and I find it especially telling that one of the "nay sayers" was Ben Jealous, former Prez/CEO of the NAACP.

What was nagging at me was M.L. King Jr's "Letter from a Birmingham Jail"

https://www.africa.upenn.edu/Articles_Gen/Letter_Birmingham.html

(Disclosure: I'm a white middle-class male, 63, who while growing up in the West and South West often spent vacation time with extended family near Tulsa OK. I am cognizant of the problems of "cultural appropriation" but since MLK has been granted a Federal holiday and I live a few blocks from a street named after him it seems legitimate to use his words in this post. I'm willing to be corrected if I'm in error with that presumption. I've pretty much voted straight "D" since 1972 but changed to "not affiliated" about 10 years ago when I could no longer reconcile the words in the Democratic party platform with the action of many of the elected officials and party functionaries.)

A few excerpts that seem appropriate to 2016 and the subject of third (or fourth or fifth) parties:

Lamentably, it is an historical fact that privileged groups seldom give up their privileges voluntarily. Individuals may see the moral light and voluntarily give up their unjust posture; but, as Reinhold Niebuhr has reminded us, groups tend to be more immoral than individuals.

For years now I have heard the word "Wait!" It rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity. This "Wait" has almost always meant "Never."

First, I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to "order" than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: "I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action"; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a "more convenient season." Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.

Such an attitude stems from a tragic misconception of time, from the strangely irrational notion that there is something in the very flow of time that will inevitably cure all ills. Actually, time itself is neutral; it can be used either destructively or constructively. More and more I feel that the people of ill will have used time much more effectively than have the people of good will.

Rather, I have tried to say that this normal and healthy discontent can be channeled into the creative outlet of nonviolent direct action. And now this approach is being termed extremist. But though I was initially disappointed at being categorized as an extremist, as I continued to think about the matter I gradually gained a measure of satisfaction from the label.

What I was hearing from Jealous and Reich in regards to possibly voting for someone other than Trump or Clinton was "please wait, the time is not right" .

I've seen other people comment on this topic (on both sides). It has been mentioned that there is often (I won't say always as I remember a time when the Republican party was largely not "insane clown" crazy) a Republican bogeyman that needs to be forestalled from filling the office of President. "Just wait until 2012, 2016, 2020, 2024, 2028 . . . . when our powder will be dry enough to give up the corporate money/corruption/perpetuation of discrimination we need in order to prevent the Insane Clown from winning."

I'll be honest and admit that I find the idea of Trump/Pence as P/VP to be very scary. It would be easy to decide, as many people that I'm going to credit as being of good will have, that when you've got a choice of dark and less dark, choosing the latter is the best you can do, and then you hope that you have enough time to collect some dry powder so that you can deal with the fallout from the "lesser evil" choice at a later date.

I distinguish those people of good will from those who are clearly in it for the money/power, who are more than happy to get whatever they can get whilst chortling about how gullible the rubes are.

I'd think that anyone who has read the papers over the last 10 (or 40)+ years would realize that the time is ALWAYS right to "kick the can" a bit farther down the road, and let someone else deal with things at some future time.

I find myself wondering how the "no third party spoilers" crowd would deal with being rebuked by MLK's words? I suspect there would be gasps of outrage at the effrontery of saying they are at all relevant to this election.

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As a closing aside I'll mention that I've seen quite a lot of "but Nader!!!!" comments online, all of which ignore the fact that 3-4X more Democrats voted Republican than there were votes cast for Nader (some of which were no doubt people who wouldn't have voted or might have voted Republican). They also ignore Gore losing his home state, as well as, need I say it, Joe Lieberman as his VP choice. Voters don't lose an election, the candidates/parties do.