Voting for a third party is only valid if a movement, a real one, forms around it. It will never work if it only siphons votes out of the dem bucket and lets republicans to kind of win by default. It has to have real momentum, real commitments, have visibility and voice across the states, so everyone will know they will not be just giving the republicans the win, rather, committing together as a big one, to something better. Even better if the various ideologically motivated but distinct camps within republicans would join the effort. Libertarians are the classic example, but I bet if things get momentum and it looks like the two parties are simply getting fractured either way, a lot of people will jump on the chance to get actual real representation and voice, not just a small camp within a big ambiguous mess the two parties kind of force.

So instead of just voting for a third option and wasting your vote in the current system, organizing would be the real answer, the prerequisite for the third options to be valid. And it’s not that complicated, just needs to get viral and real commitments

But isn’t it kind of a game of chicken then for the consumer markets? Whoever gambles the other way, can win in both volume and availability, being able to cut the others off market just by pricing, enabled by the prior two points, get brand points by the ladle while at it, and kind of become a staple of the consumer market. When the bubble pops and others return, the market isn’t the same and everyone else sits at a disadvantage?

I don’t know many personally that choose the installment contracts, but I can see it can be convenient for some. But “you don’t own it” only applies to that case, which from my point of view, seems the rarer case than just you know, buying it.