The choice is clear: Corruption vs 'Drain the Swamp!'

To the good and dedicated LDS person who said: "I'll vote for neither evil candidate", you need to do more research.

You thought you could take your vote away from both Trump and Hillary. In the system, that is not possible. Your vote or non-vote will impact the voting whether you (or anyone) like it or not. You wanted to take your vote away from them, and thought you could, but the system is what it is, and the system decides. Neither deserves your vote, in your view. From the perspective of choosing to vote for a candidate we would say lives up to the LDS Standard, that is true, in your view. However, once again: the system is what it is; we can’t change it (at this point). The system dictates the outcome as to (1) not casting a vote, (2) casting a vote for liberal/conservative, or (3) casting a vote for a third candidate who has no chance of winning. The system takes any of these three possible voting scenarios, and the system alone dictates the consequences. With the system in place, we do not and cannot control the consequences of our vote: like it or not.

Look at the three voting options:

1) Don’t vote.

If you don’t vote when you could have voted for the more conservative candidate, you have taken away a vote from them. This strengthens the liberal candidate's position, like it or not.

2) Vote for a third party.

If in reality the third party cannot win, by voting For them for any reason, the system will take your vote and it becomes a throwaway vote. Except for this: once again, voting for a non-viable third party, takes a vote away from the more conservative of the two actual/viable candidates, which gives more strength to the liberal candidate. That’s just how the system works, whether we like it or not. It is not something we can control. It’s the system. People may not like it, but there is nothing their desires can do to change it.

It’s the same situation with Nephi: don’t you think he wished there was a third alternative to killing Laban: a great evil that would break one of the Ten Commandments? But there was no “righteous” alternative; there were only two bad choices available. That was a fact. He had to face it. The Spirit taught him The Better Principle: if there is no real ideal/righteous alternative, the solution is to choose the better of the remaining real alternatives—even if they are all evil. That is a RIGHTEOUS choice, (according to the Spirit), even though it is a choice of evil. So, will there be times when you choose evil? Yes, just as Nephi did. Do we like to have to do it? No, just as Nephi didn’t. Is it the right thing to do? Yes. Did Nephi have to “pick up the snake (Elder Packer's parable)?” Yes. Was it the right thing to do? Yes. Why? Because there are times and situations when there are only "snakes" to choose from, and you have to pick up one of them. If you think you just won’t pick up any snake, that will have consequences you cannot control. And if picking up the less venomous snake can save someone’s life, that is what you should do.

Some day more Latter-day Saints will understand this principle.

In politics, you will face this dilemma and solution many times. What do you do?

3) Vote according to The Better Principle.

Best Wishes,

RCShipp