The first year that I was old enough to vote in a presidential election was 2016. I turned nineteen in January of that year and have regretted it ever since. My parents are patriots, so opting to not vote was not an option. I didn’t vote in a local election the year before and my entire family (including extended: uncles, grandfathers, and even some of parents’ friends) had a strong opinion about it. To that I say: It’s my right to not vote and I get that choice! HA!
Although the choice to not vote in the recent election, which was extremely important, would make anyone an idiot. Sorry, not sorry. Seriously, we had a choice between a talking orange and a backstabbing, raging hypocrite. It’s every catty high school girl’s dream to say: You’re uncool, but you’re more uncool, so I’m voting the first choice for Prom Queen! So I stressed it all over my social media, to all my friends, and all the people that I work with/around to VOTE. I almost painted my face red, white, and blue on November 8th but opted that it would’ve been too extreme. I regret that.
Because so many people didn’t vote! OMG, why why why why (I actually think that I tweeted that exact phrase when the voter turnout was announced). It’s ridiculous. And now all the people who couldn’t take the time out of their day to fill in a BUBBLE are complaining about Donald Trump being a bumbling idiot and tweeting every time he’s on the toilet. Guess what? Nobody cares (insert smug smiley emoji). My dad has told me since I was a little girl, “If you don’t vote, don’t you dare complain about anything in the government. Because you did nothing to change it.” Right, you are Daddio. So don’t complain, because nobody cares about your opinion when you post it on social media. They care when you turn in your ballot.
This bleeding heart liberal refuses to give up on what she wants to see from her country and from the world. I want to see equal pay for equal work. I want the rape culture to change; I want the rape culture to end. I want child marriage around the world to stop. I want Planned Parenthood to stop getting money taken away from them; they literally give us free birth control. I want our Veterans to be shown more respect and get offered jobs that will actually pay for them to live. I want free college funding at all universities for Veterans. I want people who can’t work to be able to live, and I want those who can work to get off their ass. And that’s just a handful.
Does that mean that all these hopes I have will be squashed because some orange, perverted asshole sits in the oval office? Absolutely not. We’re still a democracy and we still have a voice. So stop using yours to whine. Make signs, go to protests, write your Congressmen and women. Write to your Senators. Write to your representatives. You don’t have to make violence to make a difference: you have to speak up.