The older I get, the clearer I get about voting. Mind you, I have always voted. I even got to vote before I turned 18, because I was going to be out of the country on election day on my school foreign exchange trip. So I got to cast my absentee ballot early.
And I have voted in every single election since – save for one very small local primary I forgot was happening more than a dozen years ago – because I believe it is our duty as citizens. But, more than that, I have come to understand it as our duty as humans. Because a vote isn’t just an expression of political ideology – though of course we love to wrap emotion and identity and philosophy into each decision. But what a vote really is the physical exercise of how we systematically care for one another.
Our political system, as endlessly imperfect as it is, is still our best collective mechanism for change. As such, as we sadly know too well, it is also extremely resistant to change. Which is where voting comes in. Our democracy (except for the Electoral College, which – don’t get me started…) relies on an informed citizenry who votes. That more than half to a third of all eligible voters simply don’t bother to vote in any given election – honestly it blows my mind, but in some ways I get it.
I especially get it if people don’t vote out of hopelessness. That doesn’t mean I accept the lazy “both sides are the same” arguments. But I understand that years, decades, centuries of circumstances not changing for the most marginalized people can lead one to think nothing is possible.
But here is the thing. The entire history of humanity – and this country – has been a slow, and very painful march toward more inclusivity. It has not always been linear, nor has the progress always been significant or ever nearly enough. But slowly, slowly (and, yes, so very painfully) more and more people in this country are able to pursue life, liberty and happiness.
We have so much work to do. But almost none of that can happen if Trump wins again. That pathetic excuse for a human being with the Supreme Court-annointed immunity of a God-King and every lever of our federal and judicial branch at his disposal? It’s not hyperbole to think we’d stop making civil rights progress altogether – at least for the duration of his presidency/dictatorship, if not the remainder of our lifetimes.
So, again, that’s where voting comes in again. Yes, it’s imperative to vote for Kamala Harris and repudiate Donald Trump at the polls. Yes, we must rid our politics of the hateful MAGA cult. Yes, we must hold the House and win back the Senate. Yes, we must flip statehouses and city councils and school boards.
We do this not because we think Democrats or progressive candidates are magicians. Voting for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz won’t automatically solve all of our inequalities. But they are the only candidates who stand a chance of winning who can be pushed, and forcefully prodded if needed, to be better. And while marginally better may not feel like nearly enough, especially with the weight of so much suffering in our world, it is still infinitely better than the alternative.
And that, that is my whole philosophy of voting. I vote to do the most good for the most people. Each ballot I cast is a calculation. No, I may not agree with every single policy proposal or political stance of every politician I vote for. And, trust me, I’ve been plenty disappointed by Democrats over the years. Like, grow a damn backbone and stop thinking corporations will save us. But I am also a realist, and I know exactly how slow that moral arc of the universe has proven to be. It’s up to us to make sure it keeps arcing toward justice – and we must work to bend faster.
So, in this election, the choice could not be simpler. A vote for anyone other than Kamala this election is a vote that says my political ideologies are more important to me than the people who will be hurt by a second Trump presidency. Which, hey, this is a free country, you can feel however you want to feel and vote however you want to vote. For those voting for him, that harm is the feature, and not a bug, of his candidacy – obviously. But for the rest of us you can’t deny that his policies will hurt Black people, Brown people, Muslims, other POC, immigrants, women, LGBTQ+ people and trans/gender nonconforming people especially.
Plus, anyone who wants generals like Hilter can never be allowed back in the White House. Period.
So with one week to the election, and having already cast my ballot, I still believe in the possibility of a better America. And electing Kamala and finally defeating Trump (again!), well, that’s the first step toward any kind of brighter days. Vote Harris-Walz 2024. LFG.
