I do not live in a swing state. I live in Mississippi, and I've had to accept the reality that this state is going to continue to vote Republican in every presidential election no matter what I do or say. Thus, how I vote in the 2012 presidential race is fairly trivial in terms of affecting outcomes. Many of the progressives I encounter on the Internet do not seem to understand this. They scold me for being reluctant to vote for President Obama. When I explain that I hope to support a third party candidate, they accuse me of handing the election to a Republican. It seems that ignorance of the political system is surprisingly widespread on the left.

If the U.S. elected presidents with a direct popular vote, mine would count. In such a system, my likely vote for a third party candidate might indeed make it more difficult for President Obama to win reelection. But this is not the system we have.

All six of Mississippi's electoral votes will go to a Republican, and this will be true no matter what I do. This means that my individual vote doesn't amount to much of anything. But it also means that I have a luxury that those in swing states do not have: I can vote for a third party candidate to help send a message without costing the Democratic candidate the election.

Progressives who are informed about the political process should not only understand this but welcome it. If growing numbers of us in states like Mississippi use our votes to promote third party candidates, we may be able to signal the Democratic Party that they need to move to the left.

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