@Big Al

There may be a difference at one end but since TPTB get their desired result - even the more-aware not making the effort to vote for Progs - either way, it functions, and will be presented, as an abject surrender of what's likely the last chance to even attempt a pacific move toward The People taking back government or at least making electoral cheating indefensibly obvious - yet again, only even more so - and suitable for an appeal to the UN and any and all other agencies and organizations.

If people don't even try to vote in last-ditch protest to support those running against CorpoDem CIA agents and the like, not to mention the Republicans just needing another few corporate/billionaire-controlled seats (so, yeah, CorpoDems may fill in, if required, and if not replaced by Progs believing in democracy) to rewrite the US Constitution to suit ALEC - meaning the Trilateral Commission and the like - and again fail to refuse en masse to accept suspect electoral results, the official pronouncement will be that they must be OK with the system as it stands, right?

If they hold a war and nobody from the defender's side shows up, the invasion proceeds without even a token protest.

Unless you're going to show up in millions carrying protest signs explaining why you won't vote to be not covered by the corporate media and prevented from going anywhere near the polls by militarized police so that this at least - maybe - gets carried internationally?

I strongly suspect that censorship and other suppression will intensify considerably after this election, if it goes according to plan and any concerted action by the people can be ruled out because the last chance wasn't even reached for by enough people to make a difference or register willingness to attempt to defend themselves in any manner, not even by voting against them, as a gesture and validation of ensuing protest, if nothing else.

And what do you want to bet they're waiting to declare America as being officially at war because they're going to slap down martial law at that point with that as an excuse?

Americans already officially no longer have any officially accepted rights of any kind and can be disappeared/killed on American soil once labeled as a terrorist for saying anything against any of The Right People or the oppression imposed, as long as TPTB use some such excuse to con people into believing that it's necessary to 'protect' them. Sure looks like this was set up for, by Obama passing all of those 'laws', purportedly 'legalizing' all of this repressive abuse, right down to government propaganda being used against US citizens.

This is not a political situation, this is full-blown fascism tightening its fist around our throats.

Looking at his increasingly warmongering Bush League 'advisors' and appointments, I have to wonder if Trump's purportedly pulling out troops from Syria potentially to: 'privatize' the Syrian war-crime in contracting it out to the apparently murderously-religious fanatic Prince*, to make cover for bringing mercenaries to America to help deal with anticipated citizen protest or because planning to move to nuking here, there and everywhere? (Guess we'll know when the next False Flags start being waved.)

Although Prince doesn't strike me as anyone likely to mind having one of his armies wiped out by nukes as long as lots of innocent Muslim people are killed as well or as likely to discourage any such world-destroying action... in which event, whether we simply continue to leave TPTB to do as they will to us or not may not matter in the very near future.

Still, personally, I don't know how selected victims can 'boycott' planned rape and murder with any hope of success. It's not as though one can leave the world they're messing with - and up - in the process of global conquest, to somehow personally avoid the attackers enough to be left alone and to not suffer the effects of what they do. Just my view, of course, YMMV.

* https://www.thenation.com/article/blackwater-founder-implicated-murder/

Blackwater Founder Erik Prince Implicated in Murder
Sworn statements filed in Federal Court allege that Blackwater founder Erik Prince launched a “crusade” to eliminate Muslims and Islam.
By Jeremy Scahill
August 4, 2009

#4.1.1 I've seen other efforts but they've all fizzled out. Certainly are enough people not voting to aid a boycott, but there's a difference between not voting and a boycott.
I'm going to continue to boycott. However, like with Bush and the neocons in 2004/8, the urge to defeat Trump and the neocons is going to be too much for most in these circles.

@Big Al

is that while corporations hate boycotts because they then don't get your money and their profits drop, The Psychopaths That Be seem to prefer that a large number of people not vote and leave them to rig the results to suit themselves without any risk of democracy creeping in. And they plan to get your money one way or another anyway, spend public money as though it's their own, and to suit their own destructive agendas.

If 40%? (think it was much higher before Bernie, wasn't it? the other way around or at least something close to only 40% actually voting?) of eligible US voters already don't vote

and all the corporate candidates care about are the optics of having - or at least making it appear that they have - more votes than the competition, (even if it's their 5 votes to 4 votes for the other 'side',)

when Republican corporate candidates in either Party (think of Clinton, and apologies for the attendant nausea) tend to benefit from low turn-out - especially when it's Indies/Dems otherwise voting for other Parties/Dem Progs and not themselves -

and cut back on polling stations/voting hours to discourage voting,

more people not voting at all is not likely to bother them at all. Quite the reverse.

They know people have typically nothing to vote for in most elections and that's just the way they like - and have arranged - it.

The CorpoDems hate the very concept of democracy just as much as do their alter ego(tist)s in the Repubs, they just haven't been able to do away with the election thing just yet, plus the billions of advertising dollars pumped into the corporate media during every dragged-out election cycle keeps them happily pumping out talking points and other propaganda to order.

However, I believe that you did say that you'd support people voting for non-corporate candidates? Which is a constructive action which, at the least, cannot be passed off as 'voter apathy' attributed to 'voter laziness' or voter satisfaction with the current situation and consent for what TPTB are doing.

Wasn't Hillary at one early point - pre-RUSSIA!!! EVERYTHING!!! - passing off the hundreds of thousands of people in the last election perhaps voting for everything else but leaving choice of President blank as some kind of machine error or Rebub cheat? Damned if I can recall exactly what the excuse was or what interview that was in... woman had so many excuses and so many to blame, doubt Her could remember them Herself...

But neither America's long-running remarkably low voter turnouts for an industrialized country or hundreds of thousands of voters leaving the Presidential ballot blank in 2016 had any effect in forcing change; more of the same is unlikely to do anything but allow more of the ever-worsening same, as it did this time.

TPTB form a big club to beat the public with while mugging them; they don't give a damn if most of the public perishes in misery, never mind if they fail to vote, as long as they get to run the country and planet 6 feet into the ground while killing and looting freely.

Personally I suspect that Her stole a sizable number of votes from Dr. Jill Stein. Of course Her wouldn't want to publicly admit that Her'd been rejected by the people once again; bad optics being all that matters.

But word got out anyway and there's no more virtually universal public acceptance of 'voter apathy' when refusing to vote for evil; however, there are far better options to vote for, at this point in history, although they have no chance - even in fair elections - if nobody votes for them because they're still psychologically stuck in the Two-Corporate-Party Trap.

So, in my view, as you see, the urgent need would be for everyone to vote Prog only, both to show support for democracy and the serving of the public good and actively against evil. And a real landslide win is hard to hide and will come out, and must, from here on in, lead to determined pacific action, should the chance still exist.

After all, if the US Constitution gets rewritten after this election, as seems appallingly likely, depending on election results and whether Mutual Assured Destruction has occurred by then, that might be the last one they have to bother with.

#5.1.1 a boycott serves the purpose of protesting something to force change. Like boycotting a corporation because it sponsors the NRA, the boycott is to try to force the corporation to stop sponsoring the NRA and in the big picture, advance gun control causes. In this case the boycott would be to force a change in a political system that gives no chance to the likes of Stein and third parties, and is so corrupted by the oligarchy that it only serves said oligarchy.

I did vote for Stein in 2012 but not in 2016 and I won't in 2020 because the system has got to be changed and participating in it will simply perpetuate it, not improve it. The last one hundred years should be enough proof of that.

Like with your example of "if everybody voted for Jill Stein", it could also be, "if everybody boycotted the system maybe we could change it and actually have democracy." Boycotts do work.