Yet more wisdom over at The Whiskey Bar.

Brilliant discussion going on over there about progressives sucking it up and voting for Kerry. Here is the original post from billmon and be sure to check out the comments section, which is filled with truly insightful stuff, including this:

Dammit Billmon, were you sitting by me when I was making the same point at the bar last night? My friend is a "well, the machine is broke and there's nothing we can do about it" Green/Nader-leaner. I basically said that eight months before a presidential election is about the worst time to figure out that the electoral system needs to be redone.

Too late. Deal with it.

The frustration I have with "money just runs everything, we have no say" people is that a fairy will come down and make everything all okay again. I'm sorry, but it just isn't like that. Money talks, whining runs a marathon. If you don't like the system, roll up your sleeves, get up off your ass and change the system. Voting to assuage your ego and then skulking off to snipe for four years until the next election is chicken-shit politics and the basest form of cowardice. Your ideal is not pure. It will not be unsullied by the actions of others.

This is a democracy, so there are a lot of people with ideas too. You learn to compromise when you grow up.

I admire their stand, but they have to get out of the coffee houses and join the real world and work with other people and this is the point I was hoping to make last night. My friend wasn't sure what caucus to attend. I suggested that he take his fervor and go to the Democratic caucus and use that excitement to influence the attendees and get some ideas on the platform.

I then said that the best example is how the the RR took over the Republican party. They didn't just sit around waiting for the part to accept them, they got inside and turned it to their direction. They took the long view and they got what they wanted. Progressives need to do the same thing and take back the party, become the Democratic wing of the Democratic party.

School boards, city councils and from there. Work outward. I refuse to give up. We can take this back, simply because most Americans believe in fair play and if we can show how this has been jobbed, we can perhaps change this thing.

"Bush/Cheney in 04: Because Democracy is for Canadians"

I voted for Nader in 2000 out of idealism. In my case, it didn't really matter because I live in California and we were giving our electoral votes to Gore anyway. This time, I am more realistic.

Vote for Kerry, for chrissakes!