This election season, it’s evident that a pretty big amount of the American population is tired. Tired of expecting the worst when checking CNN. Tired of shaking our heads at the word vomit that seems to spew from the mouths of those who will soon run our country. Tired of watching our country seemingly collapse while we watch silently, and hopeful that something will happen.
The ironic thing is that in actuality we do have at least some say on how this whole election goes down. Our constitutional right provides us with the freedom to vote for who we want to send in that great big white house. We decide who calls the shots in our country and while you may not know how the whole delegate and superdelegate and national conventions work, you should at least understand the power that you hold when you walk into that voting booth.
Yes, I get that our options are a bit restricted. Unless you’re up to take a risk and write in a candidate, we’re pretty much down to Clinton and Trump. The popular opinion of this year casts a shadow of doubt over both candidates,on one hand, Hilary Clinton has problems telling the truth and her trust is questionable. On the other hand, well Trump is Trump- the egotistical controversial bigot of our nightmares. While the candidates of this election may not be the most ideal, it comes down to picking the lesser of two evils. I know, that sounds tragic and depressing but you have to understand that these two candidates didn’t get their nomination on pixy dust alone. As much as I hate to say it, there’s a chance that at least one of these candidates has some qualifications for the job that they’re facing. I get that not everyone agrees with this statement, and that is perfectly okay, in fact, that is encouraged. Because your opinion is what leads you to vote for who you want to vote for. I’m not going to tell you who to vote for, and you probably don’t need or want me to. There’s already enough people doing that for me, from celebrity sponsors to the current president himself. And that’s okay too, maybe you’re the type of person to take voting advice from other trusted figures, as long as you vote for a future that you believe in, then the means by which you get there doesn’t matter as much. But there is a vast majority of people that are voting for a future that doesn’t appear too spectacular to me. A future of encouraged racism and islamophobia and series of flawed decisions that I’m not sure we can take at this point.
As cliche as it is, it’s up to us to control who leads our future. Millennial and the younger generation especially, we have a voice that is ignored too many times. We’ve seen it happen across the pond in the UK and I’d hate to see it happen again. Unfortunately, that possibility is very real if the mindset of “my vote won’t even matter” or “I don’t like any of the candidates so I’m not even going to try” continues. If anything, think of us.Those who are relatively active in politics but can’t vote. Those who have no idea what’s going on , but will learn very soon about the world in which they will grow up in. Don’t be that one person that won’t vote because they “can’t relate to the struggle” (we’re looking at you, Bow Wow) . Because, in the end, we are all on the same playing field. We all live in this wonderfully corrupt country and we will all have to live with the consequences of this election. Being lazy isn’t going to cut it because it’s not just your life that’s going to be affected once this election ends. Please, just vote.
