Don’t Trudge on My Vote

I can remember delivering a speech to my 8th grade class about why gay people should be able to marry. Around that time, Pres. Bill Clinton was signing the Defense of Marriage Act, federally defining marriage as between a man and a woman. My opinion wasn’t popular, and far from the status quo and viewpoints in the small county where I grew up.

Innovation and progress are found by going against the status quo.

jesilee-politics

The stakes are high. The polls are showing (as of 9/29/16) Clinton 42, Trump 41 according to Real Clear Politics and 46.8 to 44.1, respectively, according to FiveThirtyEight in the Popular Vote. And with 39 days until the election, the heat is on.

That heat is setting different fires across the nation, and particularly over social media: friend lists are shortening, false articles circulating, and the two-parties are turning to independents and non-voters to carry their nominee to the presidency.

I recently read an article posted by one of my teachers which insists, “that every choice other than ‘R’ or ‘D’ boils down to ‘I defer to the judgement of my fellow citizens.'”

The author, Clay Shirkly, continues to scald third-party voters and non-voters with this tweetable attack:

“Throwing away your vote on a message no one will hear, and which will change no outcome, is sometimes presented as ‘voting your conscience’, but that’s got it exactly backwards; your conscience is what keeps you from doing things that feel good to you but hurt other people. Citizens who vote for third-party candidates, write-in candidates, or nobody aren’t voting their conscience, they are voting their ego, unable to accept that a system they find personally disheartening actually applies to them.”

My initial response follows, though I have had a day to think and reflect on what this author is truly saying:

The idea of “throwing away your vote on a message no one will hear, and which will change no outcome…” lacks regard for the two-party system adopting third-party ideas, as we commonly see; i.e. Perot influencing Pres. Clinton’s deficit stance as he entered office, Socialists popularizing women’s suffrage, and the Fair Labor Standards Act enactment (against child labor) with help from Socialists and the Populist Party.

[learn more at http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/politics-july-dec04-third_parties/]

It should be encouraged that people vote out of principal for the values that they hold, and that message will be received – even without their candidate winning. Lo, the two-party systems perpetuates itself with propaganda such as this, making sure that we as Americans are locked into the “lesser or two evils” debate and any vote otherwise is “wasted.” I am happy to vote based on my values (or “ego” as the author deems it), and leave the decision up to everyone else…

Just as You Couldn’t Sway a Republican to Vote Democrat,

What makes one think that they could sway a Third-Party or No-Party vote to do the same? Add to that harsh criticism of why a person chooses to vote that way (“ego” or “to hurt others”) and you have a recipe to create another divide among the Right, Left and now the Middle.

No, what we have here, is discrimination, bigotry and intolerance. All the things that are currently making America and this election great again:

  • Discrimination; the unjust or prejudicial treatment of different categories of people or things. (categories: Third-Party, No Party, Protest Voters)
  • Bigotry; intolerance toward those who hold different opinions from oneself. (Umm, have you checked your feed?!? This applies to all sides)
  • Intolerance; unwillingness to accept views, beliefs, or behavior that differ from one’s own. (What the hell happened to discourse?)

The stance for same-sex marriage was once a “radical” idea. And now it is not.
Those who believed and defended same-sex marriage once suffered tremedous backlash. And now it is more commonly accepted (we still have some work to do, people!).

If we are to continue down this route of non-discrimation towards all, let’s go ahead and throw political-preference and values in there, too. Because to judge or attack anyone simply on what they identify with or choices they chose to make in their own life is the same discrimination that so many are fighting hard to overcome.

America, the Free.

I registered to vote when I was 17, still in high school. I left a major party years later after I realized the values I hold are different from what that party promotes. I told my now-husband that if he didn’t vote, I couldn’t date him. And I have done my civic duty by voting every election. It is my freedom to elect the candidate who best reflects my beliefs, as it is yours.

As we enter this election, with both major parties in fear of their opposition winning and taking away their freedoms (whether it be guns or welfare), do everyone a favor:

  • vote for what you believe in,
  • quit adding fuel to the fire,
  • and don’t trudge on anyone’s vote.