The Voting Dilemma

I've mostly avoided political commentary on here.  As Rafiki would say, "it is time."  

I wrote the majority of this quite a while ago and wasn't going to post it but after the train wreck that was the Republican National Convention last week and the, let's just call it interesting, DNC this week, it felt relevant.

I'm a strong proponent of voting.  I absolutely love that voting is compulsory here in Australia.  One of my biggest pet peeves in the US is people complaining about a political issue and when asked if they voted, they say no. No vote?  No complaining.  Not voting is really just out of pure laziness which is incredibly sad when there's places around the world where people don't have the privilege of having a say.  Since I was 18, I have voted in every federal and state election and have continued to do so living abroad.

Then there's the US federal election of 2016.  Come November, whether people like it or not, the United States is going to elect a new president.  Unless something shockingly unpredictable happens, either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump will become, arguably, the most powerful person in the world.

But what do you do when you don't support either candidate?

Now yes, I'm only one person.  I'm a registered voter in Oregon which has been a blue state since the 80's.  In all reality, my single vote really isn't going to do much.  If I were in a swing state, one vote can mean a lot more. Regardless, I reckon I'm not the only one who is feeling this way.  With what I imagine millions of others are thinking, do I/we vote for someone we don't want to win?  

Trump photo by Michael Vadon, Clinton photo by Gage Skidmor

Bernie Sanders had/has a massive following and people (understandably) became incredibly devoted to him. It was Bernie or Bust!  If Sanders didn't win the Democratic nomination, people were vowing not to vote for Hillary Clinton.  As I am not a fan of Hillary Clinton for a multitude of reasons, I have gone through the internal debate of whether or not to vote for her.  A vote for a candidate should mean you support the majority of their policies as well as believing in them as a person who can do the job honestly and with integrity. Unfortunately, my vote for Hillary Clinton would not be representing these things.

Is voting for Clinton the lesser of two evils?  I don't consider Hillary Clinton to be necessarily evil (although I might not be able to say the same about her second-coming-of-Hitler opponent) but I strongly disagree with a lot of her actions and the way she got the nomination.  A vote for Hillary is instead, primarily, a vote against Trump; I'd be voting for Trump to lose. Once again this brings up the question of is this right?  No, it is absolutely not.  

Yes, people can write in Bernie Sanders on their ballots.  There's no doubt in my mind he will get a lot of votes in November but realistically, it won't be anywhere near enough to win the election.  My fear is writing in Bernie will split the votes.  If the Democratic Party is dividing their votes whereas the Republicans are all polling for one, you do the math. Basically that equals inevitable World War III. So why not support Jill Stein? First off, I don't know much about her besides the few articles I've read and it would essentially have the same effect as writing in Bernie.  Unfortunately the US has a two party political system and Stein has pretty much a 0% chance of winning.

Taking that into account, I've seen a lot of comments/articles online of staunch Hillary fans and converted Bernie supporters saying if "Bernie Bros" don't vote for Hillary, they will be handing the White House to Trump.  No.  Just no.  No candidate is entitled to a vote. Let me repeat. No candidate is entitled to a vote. 

Like I said, a vote should be for someone you support and can agree with.  Hillary has catastrophically failed at appealing to a lot of people and that is no one's fault but her own (although isn't it convenient that all of a sudden she's coming up with Bernie-esk policies). The election is essentially a job interview and she failed to convince about half of the first-round hiring committee she should get the job.  If she loses the election, it's her own doing.  

So why not just forgo voting this year?  Like I said earlier, this isn't an option.  Not participating in the electoral process is almost criminal in my mind.

Come November, or whenever my ballot becomes available in Australia, I will be voting against Donald Trump.  Since this isn't Survivor and we can't vote people off the island (although with a Trump presidency many will be forced off the island), unfortunately the only way to effectively do this is to vote for someone else.  

Will I be voting for Hillary?  Yeah, probably.  That said, people need to stop belittling others and calling them "ridiculous" for not wanting to vote for someone purely to go against another.  Yet again, that is not why you should vote for a candidate.

That's all for now.  Bye.