Certainly I can't influence this election from where I vote in New Jersey. But maybe my vote today will influence the next one. (I'm going to throw out the pre

Certainly I can't influence this election from where I vote in New Jersey. But maybe my vote today will influence the next one. (I'm going to throw out the pretense of being unbiased, because it's easier to write honestly. But feel free to replace my favorite candidate according to your conscience.) There are many people who believe that the GOP has turned its back on its core principles; indeed, the Tea Party was a pretty strong demonstration of that. Yet the party persists on playing the same old political games despite these loud voices. So the people need to speak in even louder terms to make them hear. I harbor few illusions that my vote will put Gary Johnson in the White House. But I do hope that when all the votes are counted, the GOP will say, "if all those votes for Gary Johnson had instead gone to our candidate, we would have won". If that were to happen, then I think there would be a strong incentive next time around for them to choose a candidate and platform that would be more palatable to those votes they lost to Johnson.