Throwing a Party

I was pleased to see WORLD address "third" political parties and especially the Constitution Party (see 17 July issue).  Mr. Veith argued that a vote for the Constitution Party during the presidential election is a vote for the Democrats and will likely lock-in more liberal Supreme Court Justices.  However, he supported the idea of electing stronger Christian statesmen at lower levels in order to build a grassroots movement that some day may be ready for the national election.

I'm still left with a nagging objection to this approach.  If I vote for the party that most closely aligns with my convictions, not only do I vote my conscience, but as more and more voters do this, won't the major parties be led to find out why their base has left them?  And wouldn't this be a strong encouragement to reform? 

But if I vote Republican, only in the hope of defeating the Democrats, how would they get the signal to reform?