USA friends: please vote!

Actually, let me phrase that differently: VOTE! No excuses.

If you're voting for Clinton, your vote is what stands between the Oval Office and a narcissist con artist who, among other things, will harm US international relations, endorse harassment of women and deny them control over their own bodies, and incite hate against Muslims and immigrants. See e.g. Washington postand Huffington post for examples of how much damage the President can do in spite of the "checks and balances".

While I would have preferred Sanders to be the Democratic candidate, I believe that Clinton is extremely experienced and qualified for the role of President (plus, there's a glass ceiling here which needs breaking). There are certainly plenty of negative aspects about her, but please do consider the unprecedented level of scrutiny and criticism she's facing simply because some powerful people cannot fathom the idea of a female President, and because an action performed by a woman tends to be cast in a different light than if a man were to do the exact same thing: Stop Pretending You Don’t Know Why People Hate Hillary Clinton (most of the bad stuff she's done has been done before by male Presidents and other men in powerful positions, but oddly enough, it's a problem only now - if only every politician had been subjected to the similar amount of scrutiny!) This doesn't excuse her weaknesses, but please try to have a balanced view of them - which shouldn't really be too hard given the massive amount of craziness that is being perpetrated by Trump.

But the President is not the only position you are electing! There are also a lot of progressive down-ballot candidates for the Senate and the House, such as Zephyr Teachout (NY), Russ Feingold (WI), Deborah Ross (NC), Catherine Cortez Masto (NV), Maggie Hassan (NH), Katie McGinty (PA), Chase Iron Eyes (ND), Rick Nolan (MN), Nanette Barragan (CA), and Morgan Carroll (CO). Taking the Senate majority back will be vital for Clinton's ability to get anything done (we've all seen the shameful behavior of the current Senate Republicans, whose primary interest seems to be to impede Obama at the cost of the country's progress and stability); it might also have the desirable side effect of making Bernie Sanders the Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee.

Furthermore: There will be a lot of so-called "propositions" on the ballot, which will potentially have a large impact to your state; please educate yourself about your state's propositions and vote on them. In California, pay special attention to Prop 61 (an attempt to prevent price hikes on drugs, although the way it's worded makes it uncertain whether it will actually make it better or worse), Prop 62 (abolishing the death penalty; if you're for this, make sure to also vote no on the "competing" Prop 66), and Prop 59 (which probably won't have much practical impact, but it will send a signal that you don't like the disastrous "Citizens United" Supreme Court ruling, which opened the floodgates for private donation money to political campaigns). Ballot.fyi seems like a reasonable resource for the California propositions. If you live in Colorado, please vote for Amendment 69, which will introduce a (hopefully) revolutionary single-payer healthcare system (which might pave the way for the same thing happening in other states).

Many people seem inclined to "send a signal" to the DNC via a protest vote for either Trump or a third-party candidate, and while I very much understand that desire (and agree that the DNC could need it), this is not the time for grandstanding. Had there been a somewhat moderate and sensible Republican candidate (and, for the record, neither of Trump's main opponents during the primaries (Ted Cruz and John Kasich) fell into that category, nor does the VP candidate Mike Pence), I could have agreed - and while we're talking about ideal worlds, we should have had a multi-party system, Sanders as one of the candidates, preferential voting, and direct elections. What we actually have is in practice a two-party system, a flawed but skilled Democratic candidate versus a lunatic Republican candidate, "pick one" voting, and an outdated winner-takes-the-state Electoral College system combined with hair-raising gerrymandering at the district level. And within the sad reality of that system, exactly one of Clinton or Trump will become president. Vote for a third-party candidate if you feel the need to go home with a warm and fuzzy feeling about who you voted for, but be aware that that choice will in practice be a favor to the major-party candidate you dislike the most. (Exception: if you live in Utah, consider voting for Evan McMullin, who will likely win the state and thus take electors from Trump.) Let me also remind you about the fact that quite a few young British voters voted for the Brexit "for fun", thinking that it couldn't possibly happen, and were devastated to learn that the Brexit side actually won - elections are serious matters, in spite of the media irresponsibly treating the elections as a game show (and at times also a livestream of adults behaving as kindergarteners). Furthermore, the next President will get to pick a Supreme Court judge (possibly several, as several of the current members are growing old) who may become the tipping point in many future cases for many more years than the duration of the presidency.

If you are still considering a protest vote, and if you (like me) are a white, heterosexual, cis-gendered male who is reasonably well off, please consider this: both you and I will survive a Trump presidency with few problems (we might even benefit economically from it) - but for women, immigrants (especially Muslims), transgender persons and persons from many other vulnerable groups, a Trump presidency will potentially be tremendously harmful. In my not-so-humble opinion, the better off you are, the more moral responsibility you have to vote in the interests of those that are in less privileged positions.