Post-Midterm Election: Feeling the Feel Outta Some FEELINGS

(This is a little glimpse of my Facebook page this morning)

(I do not apologize)

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It's been a rough time for me politically for the last two years. I'm a Democratic Socialist who votes for Democrats for pragmatic reasons, until such time as there are better voting options that will get more refined results. Conservatives won't change the voting system, but Democrats might, in my opinion. Anyway, I was extremely unhappy about the results of the 2016 election, and I've been increasingly both angered and saddened by the cynical way the Republicans in Congress have taken advantage of their majorities to push through their agenda, even to the point of changing rules to favor themselves. 

It's your right to disagree with me, of course, but don't expect me to be comfortable with you as a person if you're invested in taking health care away from people who are sick, oppressing minority or LGBTQ citizens, or allowing the environment to be damaged for the sake of profit. The same goes for voting for people who are invested in any of the above, even if you personally don't enact those decisions. You're supporting bad, harmful actions either way. 

Given that this is my worldview, I'm pleased with the results of many of the elections we had yesterday, and I'm also freaking exhausted from the process of getting there. "Political fatigue" doesn't even begin to cover the way I'm wiped out and so sick of it all. I accept that there's way more to do in the next two years, especially in the area of keeping the voting numbers up. We need the current sixteen- and seventeen-year-olds to get involved and vote in 2020. But I'm going to give myself a little time to relax for a couple of months, just to enjoy some holiday time and conserve some energy for the investigations and revelations that will surely be happening in 2019.

You can expect NO POLITICS from me tomorrow. Until I'm ready to get back at it. Or sooner, if I have to get back at it whether I'm ready or not.

Effective Voting, Instead of the Other Kind

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Hey! Howdy. Since you're on the internet, I'm sure you're painfully aware that there's an American election coming up. This post is for the Americans who will be voting in the election, which ideally would be every American who is old enough and not currently prohibited from voting for felony reasons, or comas, or other stuff I'd rather you weren't involved in.

More specifically, it's for the people who intend to vote for - or are considering voting for - someone other than a Democrat or Republican for a high-level position (say, Governor or above) at any point before we get ourselves an instant-runoff voting system. That's when you get to rank the candidates in order on the ballot, and your vote will go to your favorite candidate, but if they're in last place, they're eliminated; in that case, your vote goes to your second choice of candidate. Depending on how many candidates there are, your second choice might get eliminated, too, so your vote would go to your third choice. More details are at the link, above. That's a good system for giving any candidate from any party a chance to win. I would be thrilled forever if we could have that system. BUT WE DO NOT HAVE THAT SYSTEM.

Sadly, what we have is a situation where your well-intentioned vote for, say, the Green Party candidate (just giving an example here!) will permanently take your vote away from the Democrat who is sympathetic to green issues, and will give an advantage to the Republican who is really a lot less likely to ever help you with green issues. So I'm here to advocate for choosing a likely-to-win candidate from one of the two major parties, the one who will be generally sympathetic to the more intense values you may have. After you help them win, you can and should follow up by writing to that candidate on a regular basis to let them know what you want them to work on while in office. Voting for a candidate who can't possibly win is not an effective way to enact your preferences. Communicating directly with a sympathetic major-party candidate WHO HAS WON is much more effective. 

However, while we're stuck with our current voting system, it can still make a big difference to vote for alternative-party candidates at the local level, if that's what you want to do. Fewer people bother to show up to vote in local elections, so your vote can have a lot of impact on the results. As they get experience and become more well-known, they'll have more opportunities to move upward in politics, and maybe work to promote the instant-runoff voting system that might propel them to the top one day! 

Anyway, please vote in this election! As effectively as possible.