it is about choices, people. like it or not, either george w. bush or john kerry will be our next president. you can choose to vote for either one or you can choose not to vote at all, or you can choose to vote for some one who doesn't have a chance in hell of winning. if you make either of the two latter choices, you have no business complaining if bush gets elected.
don't like the options you have on the ballot? well those options were chosen by the paltry 20% of registered voters who got off their lazy asses and participated in the process. if you don't like the way it works, get involved. run for office yourself. work for the campaign of someone you believe in. but if your first choice doesn't make it to the final ballot, you still have the ability to affect the way our country is governed. maybe you can't make dramatic, 180 degree shifts in policy as many of us would like to, but there is a difference between the two candidates, no matter how loudly or angrily you deny it. if you remove yourself from the process by either not voting or by voting for a fringe candidate, you are as responsible for the outcome as anyone who votes for the ultimate winner.
it ain't easy. you aren't going to get what you want. ever. but you do a disservice to everyone by not voting for the better of the two viable candidates. not the lesser of two evils, the better of two candidates. it is people removing themselves from the process because they can't have everything they want that have got us where we are today.