As a few pure-hearted American progressives prepare to undermine their 230-year-old republic for the sake of their consciences, let me offer them a crash lesson on democracy.

Democracy, in its liberal form, is about reconciling different interests and opinions. That means one thing: compromise. In a democracy with proportional representation you may freely vote your conscience, knowing that your representatives in parliament will then get their hands dirty by compromising, on your behalf, in order to form a government. But in a presidential and majoritarian system like America’s, there is only room for two factions. To avoid unfair election results, the compromise must be done upstream, by voters themselves at primaries and caucuses, so as to produce the two alternatives the electoral system can handle. In America, election day is too late to be voting your conscience!

Politics is not shopping. You will not get exactly what you want, you will get the result of a compromise. American liberals and progressives had a chance to make their case in the Democrat primaries last year. They now need to suck it up and vote for the decision their own side made.