Ugly Ballots

In the U.S., we are staring down the barrel of an election in which there are no good options. This is not a new situation, but the severity of the risk has increased massively in recent years, to the point that some potential outcomes are catastrophic to the extent of rivaling the greatest societal collapses in human history.

In light of this, the temptation is understandable to forego the entire process, and this worries me. Many will “protest” the current political situation by avoiding the polls, and in so doing harm their own outcomes.

Even if, as is understandable, one has no faith in the current system, it still benefits to make minimally necessary interactions within that system to mitigate its harm while actively pursuing a new system. Procedurally speaking, voting is wise because it demonstrates that you are politically active to politicians who have no reason to listen to you otherwise. Practically speaking, voting is wise because even choosing the lesser of two evils results in less evil for the time being. We need to approach every possible avenue by which social progress can be made, and make use of every available tool.

In this regard, we must also avoid falling into the pitfall of thinking voting is all we need to do. Our society was never designed to let political process end at such a simple procedure. We must strive to seize control of our own government in accordance with its own legal mandates, and that will require actions that our corrupted servants will not cooperate with.