This time out, I spend an entire episode on one (rather long) bit of listener feedback. Ruthie Rink wrote in to say how, as a conservative and a Mormon, she is working out how to vote in this election. I couldn’t cover everything she said, so her full text is below, after the podcast episode transcript.
While I won’t be doing what she’s doing, I can’t fault her on her decision-making. Perhaps you might want to consider this.

Show transcript
Listener Ruthie Rink is a friend of mine, both on Facebook and as a fellow podcast host on the Golden Spiral Media network. We substitute-co-hosted a couple of episodes of the podcast “Central City Underground” for the TV show “The Flash”. She also was part of GSM’s podcast marathon for raising money for the Multiple Sclerosis Foundation, for which I am grateful.
She has been threatening, er, promising to write down her thoughts about this election, and she made good on it recently. I don’t have time to go into all of it in detail, but I do want to hit the main points, and make my own observations. I’ll be putting the full text of the message in the show notes, so definitely take a look there.
She begins with something a friend of hers wrote about options for conservatives voting this year. And while she doesn’t agree with all of them (and neither do I), the idea here is that there are other options to voting for Trump that can make a difference, or can get your voice heard. Her friend left the Republican party but still considers himself a conservative. He suggests that Trump has been hostile to any objective idea of liberty. I wouldn’t go that far, but there are positions he’s taken that are certainly not in the small-government style. So what to do in this situation, if you think a Trump presidency would be a disaster for conservatism?
#1, write in Evan McMullin. Evan who? Well, he’s on the ballot in a couple states, and could actually win the state of Utah. You may want to look into that, if your state allows write-ins. This sends the signal to the party of what kind of Republican you really want. Ruthie notes that in her home state of Oklahoma, this invalidates your ballot, so best not to try it there.
#2, vote for Libertarian Gary Johnson, if you prefer more conservatism in fiscal matters but not so much on social issues. This, I’m not in such agreement with. Conservatism is a good idea, because we can learn from tradition and history on all sorts of issues; fiscal and social. I don’t want to throw caution to the wind on gay marriage any more than I want to for ever-increasing government programs. If history is worth consulting for guidance, it shouldn’t be ignored for certain types of policies. Ruthie’s friend says “Gay marriage is the law of the land; stop fighting lost battles.” I’d reply that slavery was the law of the land, but Christians, including Abraham Lincoln, were instrumental in ending it. And the country was far more conservative then than it is now, so while history is a guide to conservatives, it is by no means a dictator. I’d suggest that asking people to “stop fighting lost battles” is a rather “unconservative” thing to say.
#3, don’t vote. I would add that not voting as a matter of principle is different than not voting because of apathy or because it’s drizzling outside. Though how does anyone just looking at the numbers tell the difference?
And as a last resort, #4, vote for Clinton. I agree that this would send the strongest message that Republicans should never offer up someone like Trump again. Ruthie’s friend puts it this way, “I don’t think Clinton would be a good president but if we’re going to have a stinker in the White House, let’s let it be a liberal.” I’m not sure I can bring myself to do that. As I’ve said, I think the issue of the Supreme Court is paramount this election, and the next President is going to have an effect that will last far,