"I am gonna vote for the Green Party, I love Jill Stein."
"I want to vote Independent."
"I'm going to write in Bernie Sanders because I can't stand 'Killary.'"
All of these statements are brash and thoughtless words that I have heard from my fellow democratic millennials. Well, I am writing this article in hopes of countering these statements. First and foremost, I predict the criticism of this article already, so I will address them with haste. First, no, I am not trying to take away your freedom of expression, if you so wish to throw your vote away, then that is your prerogative. Secondly, I genuinely love both Stein and Sanders and their positions of politics, but I refuse to let my right to vote be wasted by zeal and pride. That being said, the only viable hope to avoid a Trump presidency is to vote for Hillary Clinton.
Jill Stein is a strong politician currently on the ballot for the Green Party in the 2016 election. However, in the 1992 election, there also was another politician that didn't come from the two main political parties that gained a lot of traction with the public. His name was Perot, and he actually won 18 percent of the popular vote, which is amazing for a third-party candidate. However, all this work was to no avail and made no progress. Why? Because, contrary to the majority of millennials' thoughts, America is a republic not a democracy. The popular vote does not decide the winner, the electoral college does. Even after winning 18 percent of the popular vote, Perot received zero votes from the electoral college. Even if the movement you are being told is happening, and this third party truly receives a good chunk of the popular vote, why would the electoral college cast their vote for Stein over Hillary? Hillary is being noted as one of the most qualified candidates in history by fellow Democrats, so why cast that aside? Not only is a vote for Jill Stein impractical, it is handing the popular vote to Donald Trump and diversifying our party even more than we already are.
Bernie Sanders is the candidate that I was initially assuming would receive the nomination. However, he did not. The American people have voted for Clinton, and this is a fact. Regardless of voter suppression conspiracy, she still received quite a bit more delegates than Sanders and is now the Democratic candidate. Furthermore, Sanders has recently endorsed Hillary, urging people to vote for her. If your beloved politician is telling you to cast your vote for Clinton, why would you write him in? When has a write in ever been a viable option? It has not been. As much as I would like to believe in miracles as well, I do not. With the following behind Clinton and Trump as is, it is virtually impossible for Sanders to win. If you are trying to prove a point, your point could be how a wasted vote turned America into a land ruled by a fascist racist.
Although I would love to live in a perfect world where the candidate I have the most in common with would make it into the White House, we do not. We live in a world where the two candidates, either from the Republican or Democratic Party, will be the winners of the election.
