How I'm Voting in November, and Why

               As I write this, my fiancé is working at a bar in downtown Cleveland that is a six minute walk from the Gund—er, “Quicken Loans”—Arena, where the RNC is currently being held. The Q is currently flooded with legitimate republicans, bigots, racists, xenophobes, homophobes, sexists, and otherwise terrible human beings who spew and swallow hate speech and are responsible for so much ill in our country. The RNC has been peaceful so far, so I’m not quite the anxious wreck I was a few days ago, but I still worry about my fiancé, who is in such a vulnerable location if things end up getting ugly.

               Guys, before I continue this, I have to admit something: I am afraid. I am afraid, and I have never been afraid during a presidential election before. Elections are awful, manipulative events, and I hate watching human beings fall for the same bullshit every four years, as if we have some sort of bio-cultural amnesia that makes us forget that every candidate on every side follows the same formula: Build a campaign on a few simple, easy-to-understand, and easy-to-rally-around ideas tailored to your specific party, proclaim that the US is in some dire peril of some sort (even when it isn’t,) build fear by grossly exaggerating issues in our society and morphing them into bloated monsters of themselves that seem ready to explode at any moment, and then announce that you and only you have the solution to these disastrous issues; that you and only you can save America from certain destruction…from war, conservatives, Muslims, gays, or the top 1%, pick the poison that your demographic most fears and run with it. The media runs with it, further exaggerating the dire peril the US is apparently in, until we the people are quaking in our boots, thinking that the apocalypse is at our freaking doorstep. We fall for it every single time. And every single politician does this. Even Bernie Sanders, whom in my opinion was the best candidate by far this time around. This fear mongering is the lifeblood of the American Presidential Election, and every four years, we turn on each other, fight online and at family functions, lose friends, all because somewhere along human history we decided that we needed to be scared out of our wits to make political decisions. As someone living with an anxiety disorder, election season is practically unendurable.

               Ladies and gentlemen, the aesthetic paragraph break.

               After first becoming fairly politically aware during the Obama/Clinton 2008 primaries, I very quickly picked up on the aforementioned toxic formula of the politician, along with the hurling of falsities and pseudo-facts at one another during the primaries in order to secure the nomination. I distinctly remember Hillary Clinton’s use of Islamophobia to attempt to get an advantage over Obama. This disgusted me so deeply that I vowed to be as objective as possible during all future elections of which I took part, and to rely on facts as much as I possibly could, rather than listening to media, speeches, and other election rhetoric that becomes more and more convoluted as the election nears.

               I kept that promise during the circus that was the 2016 primary election. I loved Sanders right away. I’d never come across a politician with whom I agreed so strongly (my only big issue with him is his stance on GMOs.) Nor had I ever heard of a politician with such a clean record. The Clinton campaign had to rely on trying to skew the words of his current speeches and make things up (sadly not unlike the 2008 primary) in order to sling any mud at this man. Was he perfect? Of course not. He’s a politician, and he has to play by the toxic political formula just like every other politician. So Wall Street and the 1% became the battle cry (after the cry against climate change didn’t rally as many people as needed,) and his campaign grew. I will never fault him for adhering to the formula, though it did sadden me toward the end of his campaign, when the democratic debates, which started out so civil, began to dissolve into the same old mud-slinging jabs we’ve seen every four years. Again, I didn’t fault him for it. I supported him, and I still support him. I am horrorstruck that Clinton secured the nomination because she is such a weak candidate against Trump. Sanders was far, far stronger, and would have been a much, much better president.

               Let’s talk about my feelings for Clinton. I’m not a big fan of her. I don’t like how she panders, I don’t like how shamelessly she employs old political tactics to prey on the fears of her constituents. I don’t like how easily she slips through criminal investigations and scandals that would land other human beings of other occupations, classes, and colours, in prison, or at the very least, heavily fined and fired. However, every major issue I have with her can be said about any other politician.

               “But Dee!” cry my Bernie or Bust or conservative friends, “She’s corrupt! She’s a flip-flopper! She’s everything that’s wrong with American politics! Rah rah rah Benghazi! Emails!”

               I don’t want to make a big discussion out of any of these things, but suffice it to say, as I vowed to do back in 2008, I have done my own research as objectively as I possibly can, and I have come to this conclusion, though many of you may disagree with me: Clinton is no more corrupt, no more a flip-flopper, and no more scandalized than any other politician in this country. I do not like many of the choices she made in the past, both distant and embarrassingly recent, I do not like her disingenuousness, at all. As I said, I’m not a big fan of Clinton. But when I sifted through the media and opponent exaggerations, through all of the rhetoric and fear mongering, I found a politician whose current views reflect mine at somewhere around 80%. She is a Democrat, after all, and though I am an Independent, I swing to the left.

               But let’s talk about Trump for a moment. Trump is the reason I am afraid for the first time during a presidential election. Trump is the reason I have an escape route from this country planned in case he becomes president and this country begins to adhere to his beliefs and policies. As I said, I have never bought into the “THE US IS IN DIRE PERIL!” bullshit that elections always spew. Romney or McCain, or really any Republican president, would absolutely have been a huge roadblock for the progression of feminism, LGBTQA+, black/Latinx/etc rights in this country, and a lot of Bush-era bullshit would have been maintained, which would have sucked, but I don’t think it would have been the end of the US. If we survived Reagan and George W, I truly believe we can survive most contemporary Republicans (provided the Tea Party dies the gruesome death it deserves.) But Trump…this balding, bloated bubble of hate and idiocy is, in my opinion, the very worst choice for president we have had. I don’t have the strength to go through everything I despise about this man, his followers, and his so-called “ideas,” but we all know what they are.

               If Clinton has 80% of my issues in mind, Trump has -100%. He stands staunchly against nearly everything I hold dear, nearly every stitch of my moral code, and I truly believe that a Trump presidency would be a disaster. I do not want to be a part of Trump’s America. I do not want America to ever be Trump’s America.

               And that is why I am voting for Clinton this November.

               “But Dee!” cry my Bernie or Bust (or rather, Bernie Until He endorses Clinton Like He Said He Would If She Won The Nomination) friends, “This is the time for revolution, to reject the third party system! Vote for Jill Stein! Send a message to Washington that we will not stand for—“

               You all know what you’re saying, so I’m going to stop there. Here’s the thing, my loves, and I truly don’t mean to insult any of you. I really, really don’t. But the truth about me is, I’m a realist, not an idealist. I don’t mean to rhyme that because rhyming sounds like I’m being sassy. I am a realist, and I am a student of history. I want you all to know that we have had this talk before, about Ralph Nader and so many other third party candidates that crop up during election years. We’ve said “both of the main nominees are equally terrible, equally shitty, and we won’t stand for it!” We said it about Bush 1 and Bush 2, we said it about Obama and Romney. We’ve said “enough is enough with this corrupt two party system!” for decades. And I agree that the two party system is obnoxious, and lends itself to corruption. I hate it. But your “rejection” of it every four years, and only every four years, is all part of the toxic pattern of politics. It’s all part of the election formula.

               Please, please read this with as open a mind as humanly possible:

               THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION IS NOT THE TIME TO BUILD UP A THIRD PARTY.

               Vote for third party mayors, third party congressmen, third party legislators. That is how you build a political party. You don’t start from the top. Please, look at history. Learn from our history. Please. Because if you vote for Jill Stein in this election, or if you’re the kind of idiot who thinks voting for Trump will bring about some sort of “we’ve had enough” revolution, I have news for you—people have thought the same way you do in almost every election we’ve had. Democrats voted for George W Bush thinking his presidency would force some uprising for change for the left. Guess what? It didn’t happen. Guess what happened? A devastated economy and a war nobody wanted to have. If Trump gets elected, similar disasters will occur. At least some of his ridiculous ideas will happen. This is reality.

               Bernie Sanders is a student of history, and for three decades, he has been on the right side of history. In endorsing Clinton, he is still on the right side of history. He knows, as I know, that a Trump presidency would be catastrophic for this country, and that Clinton is the only chance we have to stop it. A third party candidate will not stop Trump. I know that many of my fellow liberals are tired of hearing this, but the reality is that if you vote for Stein, or refuse to vote out of pride or some sort of principal, then you are clearing Trump’s path to the White House. I know I just lost a bunch of you because I just said that, but it’s the truth. A third party is not yet viable. It’s a sad truth, but it’s a truth.

               I wish this hadn’t turned into a plea, because a plea opens all of this up to the bullshit of internet debate, which I am well and truly tired of. I’ve heard it all, from “well, Trump isn’t really that bad, it’s not like he’ll get anything past the House/Senate/etc, anyway,” to “You’re what’s wrong with America because you won’t take the chance and vote for Jill Stein, you bipartisan whore.” Guys. Stop. Stop and be realistic. Please. Because I don’t know about you, but I am afraid. I am terrified.

As a realist, as a student of history, as a pan/bisexual female who believes that Black Lives Matter, that Muslims and Mexicans have as much a right to be here as any of us, and that healthcare and education should be basic human rights, I will do everything in my power to stop Trump from becoming our next Commander and Chief. I will vote Clinton in November.