suedescripture:

One of my coworkers told me today she wasn’t voting. Someone my own age. I’m appalled, honestly.

I don’t like discussing politics here because this is my fandom happy place, but I also have gone through my followers and see that many of you are younger than me, and are likely coming up on your first time at the voting booth.

My first time, I voted for Nader. You’ve doubtlessly seen all those posts about how disenfranchised liberals felt unrepresented, so I’m not going to add another, but yeah, I made that same stupid choice to vote for the tiny third party and got Dubya for my trouble. I learned my lesson.

This is a really important life lesson a lot of young Americans need to learn, particularly right now.

You are never going to be completely represented by a candidate. Sad but true.

Many of you have spent 8 years or as long as you have ever bothered paying any attention to current politics with the coolest Prez we’ve had, probably ever. Obama was not just a bastion of liberal policy, he’s just a fucking cool human being.

Obama was the first presidential candidate I voted for. Meaning I voted for him because I agreed with most of his policies, I liked him as a person, I felt he represented me, and that was fucking amazing because it had never happened before. In the previous elections I voted in, I merely voted against the shittier candidate whose policies I definitely didn’t like. I did not like Al Gore, and you can see where that got me. I liked John Kerry even less, but I voted for him, because the thought of four more years of Bush was horrible (and it was).

This whole lesser of two evils crap that makes you eyeroll? That is not just a standard for this particular election with two unlikable choices. That is something you’re gonna realize is normal. Politicians on a whole are not likeable people. They’re shady, crooked, they’ve done stuff you won’t like, and they say whatever they think their kind of people want to hear and then flip as soon as they clench whatever seat they’re aiming for. Obama was, sadly, an outlier. He was rare, and you shouldn’t expect politicians like him to come around on a regular basis, if ever.

Bernie was one too, but he’s not going to win on write-ins. That’s just a fact, and you’re not making a statement when Trump wins anyway. Literally no one cares about who got however many write-in votes when the outcome is still shitty. What matters is that Bernie’s message was definitely heard loud and clear, he changed a lot of minds and influenced a lot of people. That was really important. Because of him, there will come politicians in the future, maybe of your generation, who will continue his work, who will influence more people, and who will eventually win. That has already made a big difference. Putting it away for later is not giving up on it. But it’s over, for now. 

There are going to be times when a president is elected that you can’t stand, and I can tell you, it sucks to live through these times. Your right to vote is given to you to at least try to counter it. This is not kids sports where everyone gets a participation trophy and everyone is a winner, which you all know is bullshit. You play to win. Sometimes you will lose anyway. The point is that you tried.

A lesser evil is sometimes the best thing you can expect. No, it’s not great. No, you might not be represented. Yes, you will be angry. But you will at least be better off if Hillary wins, if only because she has 30 years of experience in how this country runs and dealing with a gov’t chock full of bullshit. You are voting not only for your own future, but for all the kids younger than you, some of them friends of yours who are missing this election by months, who can’t vote yet. I voted for Obama twice, and those two times, my candidate won. It was a fucking great 8 years in the grand scheme of things. I did that for you. You’re welcome.

You have the ability to try to make the future better for yourself and everybody. If you don’t use it, you help no one, including yourself. Please don’t waste it. Even if it sucks to fill in that bubble for someone you don’t really like, at least it’s one less bubble for someone a whole lot worse.

Please vote. Please don’t just give up.

Preach it sister fancrone!