Claim: voting for the lesser evil means are always shifting towards the right

I agree that the Democratic Party's economic positions have shifted rightward, and there are big parts of what their poverty, tax and Wall Street positions look like Rockefeller Republicans. What I think I see is that Nader and Sanders each came after 8 years of Democratic rule, pushing us toward the left after "lesser evil" wins. Meanwhile the corporate Dems biggest surge ever was Bill Clinton and the "Third Way," which came after 12 years of Reagan and Bush. Lesser-evil victories open up hope for something better; greater-evil victories leave us desperate. Mostly, I think we've all mis-framed it: arguing about lesser-evils is a distraction from the primaries, where we really should be focused. Letting crappy candidates win the primaries and then choosing between terrible options isn't the only choice. The historical record leaves me thinking that "lesser evil" corporate Democrats dominating the party is a big problem: but the solution is to get more active in party politics and primaries, not to work against them in November.