2020 was… truly unique. It was so hard to stay away from doom scrolling, and I (and many others) were pretty disillusioned by the sad fact that so much of our country legitimately supported the Orange Man. I didn’t get a wink of sleep the night of the election because I genuinely considered it to be a make or break decision for America.
My point is that looking back on it, in the end the only real difference I made was at the ballet box. This year I’m going for the Head-in-the-Sand approach. I’m done with the political memes. Done with the Twitter screenshots. It just riles me up and this year I’m gonna do my best to fight that.
Find the best candidates running by doing exhaustive research, then, if they meet a minimum standard, vote for them. If no candidate in a given race meets the minimum, abstain on that race. I’ll vote in the Democratic Party primary even though I’m not a Democrat just because that’s the de facto election for most offices here in Chicago.
I know in advance that most of the candidates I support in the primary won’t be in the general and most of the candidates I vote for in the general won’t win, and most of the candidates who I most want to keep out of office (because they’re corrupt) are running unopposed (because they’re corrupt). I know this but I’m still going to vote anyway, and encourage everyone else to vote as well, because that’s the only hope we have for improvement.
Same as every election the last decade. (Before I got married I never voted in the primary out of principle, but my spouse convinced me that was silly.)
The last time I was actually idealistic about an election was 2004. 2004 showed me the harsh realities of contemporary politics all too clearly.