"I Voted"

Some of the political propaganda my partner, a registered voter, received this election year.

I did not vote and I haven't voted since 2008, President Barack Obama's first term in office. Even then I was apprehensive. I knew then what has been proven now that President Obama didn't have any true power to enact any real change despite his very implausible and ridiculous message of hope and progress. I still remember when he won and all of the elation felt by liberals all over the country, like a black man at the head of this historically racist, prejudice, and sexist nation means anything other than symbolism. I believe as the founding fathers believed that the general populous is inherently ignorant of how politics and this system of government works.

A thought that is truly aggravating after this election is that those that voted believe that those who didn't vote have no right to complain or offer any sort of criticism. Voting isn't mandatory and neither is supporting either of two candidates who seem and have proven to be anything but deplorable candidates, human beings. I am not going to force myself to make a choice if both choices are horrible. I don't want tofu and I don't want egg plant, I want a nice juicy rib eye. I could leave the restaurant and go to another or I could just sit there and have a drink while I watch my friends and family stomach the bland, toxic filler food. I can sit and watch their faces cringe, chew slowly, and pause longingly for a succulent piece of steak. Those who wear the "I Voted" sticker are generally proud that they have no idea what the issues are and do not care.

I think that is evident in how people are peer pressured into voting. I have noticed that it is never about the issues. It's always based upon some historic responsibility or symbolism. This candidate can be the first black man in office, the first woman in office, the first vegan, the first one armed midget, the first Polynesian lesbian, to become the president of the United States. Their stance on the issues or their own character flaws seems to be secondary to the labels placed upon them by their constituency that makes history a greater measure of political prowess than merit and policy.

As I type this I am also reading and watching updates about protests all over the country (in major cities) about how people are consciously disavowing President elect Donald Trump's presidency. For some dumb ass reason people actually believed that this country would not be headed by another sexist, racist, prejudiced, white supremacist president when the presidency has always been occupied by such men. A lot of these protestors actually believed that Hillary Clinton would have been a better choice and seem to have forgotten about all of the bull shit she was engaged in during her political career and her candidacy. She tried to play her constituents against Trump's faults. Her campaign propagated him as a megalomaniac, a fascists, a bigot and didn't understand how that would open up her character to criticism.

Not only did those that voted for her ignore how the Democratic National Committee rigged the primary in her favor, they ignored how shitty of a person and candidate she was. Just forget about the super predator narrative or Benghazi and all of those deleted emails, even her being handed debate questions before the debate, Margaret Sanger being her biggest hero. Let it all go, Trump grabbed pussy! It is coming out now how lazy her campaign was in traditionally Democratic states. She also lost rural counties in Florida and other southern states because she just didn't campaign there. She was arrogant and believed her own propaganda about Donald Trump and believed that not enough people believed as Trump did. She actually was held up by the symbolism of being the first woman president. I would constantly hear the appeal of the "lesser of two evils" as to why it was imperative that Hillary Clinton won the nomination. Intelligent people, I surmise, who didn't understand that democracy allows for more than two parties and more than two candidates. Well, the greater evil won and a lot of liberals are acting now as if President Elect Donald Trump didn't have a reasonable chance of winning, like he cheated, or that the election was rigged, like they won't be at the next music festival, or the bar, or art walk, like their protest will make them miss their favorite television show.

I think that there is some belief amongst certain voters that what they voted for should always win.

This election has proven that the media is most of this country's prime educator. People were actually hypnotized to believe that the other candidate didn't have a chance of winning. The media and Clinton's campaign said that Trump was scandalous, dishonorable, and lamentable and a lot of the people with politically liberal leanings actually were convinced that there is no way that someone with Trump's beliefs could win because he seemed to constantly be on the side of wrong. Liberals tend to believe that they are on the side of righteousness and progress and that this nation had a sensible population that understood how dangerous Trump's rhetoric on the campaign trail was. They had no reason to truly believe that there were enough voters in the country that would be on his side, as they believe, the wrong side of history. The media helped foster that type of thinking. They used polls and commentary from political "experts" that told the country that Clinton would win in a landslide. That the Trump campaign had consistently taken a leap that would throw his campaign off of a cliff into a canyon of political ineptitude. A lot of liberals live in this bubble of privilege and their belief in liberalism helps them to absolve that privilege. I think that a lot of these protestors just want to distinguish themselves from Trump supporters.

For some inane reason a lot of Clinton supporters didn't realize that there was another candidate in the race who intended to win. And it is this thinking that didn't allow for 100,000s of people in Los Angeles and New York City, Portland, and Seattle who are protesting now to begin protesting before the results were in. Why couldn't you protest that Trump was a viable candidate in the first place? Why didn't feminist groups treat the potential "leader of the free world" like they treated Bill Cosby and Nate Parker? Is there racism in liberalism? I believe there is. It's too little, too late. You're angry that the process that you supported to elect your candidate elected another. Now the system is illegitimate (something I have always agreed with), now the nation is corrupt, racist, and oppressive.

The focus of this election year was always on the Presidential campaign. Little did I hear from those outside of grocery stores and at train stations touting the need to vote for those men and women who were vying for seats in the United States Congress. I never ever see anyone urging me to vote when a city council seat is up for grabs or their is a vote to elect a new Los Angeles County Sheriff. We get swept in this self-righteous bull shit that voting for the president despite all ignorance of the issues, voting simply on party lines, means that we are involved in how our country and society is being structured and maintained. In fact, a lot of ignorant voters are the reason that the system is so fucked up! They are pressured into voting or they vote for some sort of symbolism and don't realize that they're not voting for symbols or that one line on a flier for a Proposition. You're voting for how the government is going to interact with your neighborhood, your environment, to only vote for the sake of voting is committing yourself to all of the injustices you weren't privy too because you didn't do any research. You decided against being an informed citizen. You decided that the simple act of voting is more important than what will come from the outcome of the vote.

That is exactly what happened with Trump. A lot of people, again like myself, abstained from voting this year because instead of voting for the lesser of two evils. I chose not to vote for evil at all. I chose not to be misinformed and lead the neighborhood, the city, the state, and the country down a path I have no clue where it is going because I didn't do any valuable research into who and what was on the ballot.

I hope this election will allow us to look at our own communities and gather and support one another and find out how we can protest besides marching. I hope we investigate ways to improve our communities without relying upon those who we truly have no clue how they feel about our communities.

I didn't vote because it is un-American to vote out of fear or to prevent someone from getting into office. Your vote is supposed to be support for a candidate, not fear of their opponent. This country got what it deserved this election year. You can ignore the issues, you can ignore the plight of disenfranchised people, you can ignore Donald Trump's presidency. You cannot ignore your community. I elect us all to take ownership over the responsibility for our own prosperity and love your neighbor whilst doing so.

Fuck Donald Trump! 

His election doesn't show what the United States of America is all about, what we do next will.