Is there reason to vote for a politician when the policies they want have no chance of passing?

Suppose there is a certain politician (or group of politicians) who advocate a certain policy you believe would greatly benefit the country.
However, there is no realistic chance that politician will be able to get that policy passed into law, or implemented, because either the political majority would probably never be willing to agree to it; or because the political majority is trying to prevent the other side from achieving something that would make that side look successful.

In your opinion, does reason exist to support a politician who wants things you want even though you know those things cannot and will not happen even if that politician gets elected?

What about when one political side intentionally uses the strategy of preventing anything the other side wants to do, to be able to take away most of any reason voters could have for voting for that side?

Basically telling voters "Don't vote for him. I know he says he'll try to do what you want, but I will prevent him from being able to do anything. So it's hopeless and pointless for you to vote for him."

I mean, it's one thing if you decide not to vote for a side because their policies have no meaningful political chance of getting implemented. But it may be a different thing if the other political side is going to do a strategy of denial based on the expectation of you using that logical reasoning.

I see some interesting implications here to game theory (logical mathematical analysis).

 

It's like a game where you have two choices, A or B. Whether you have chosen A or B, the most beneficial choice for your opponent is to then choose C (rather than D ).
However, if you chose A, and your opponent then chooses D (instead of C ), then you do not benefit at all, and you would have been better off choosing B instead. Your opponent is only repeatedly choosing D because they know that if you expect them to choose D, then your best choice will be B.

You would benefit the most in the scenario where you chose A and your opponent then chooses C. Your opponent benefits the most if you choose B.

 

Voting is our way of fighting for things we believe in, even if you lose. We fight for them anyway.

Republicans and Democrats who vote against things simply to deny the other side credit have forgotten that they should be Americans first, party members second.