As a Philadelphia native, resident, and work commuter, last week's Democratic National Convention was an event that was impossible not to take notice of, regardless of an interest in politics. One of the biggest themes of protest and disagreement of the event, not so surprisingly, was many people's frustration with Hillary Clinton as the nominee for the democratic party. In fact one of the most notable ideas that people seemed to be rallying around was to vote for a third party candidate (i.e. Sanders or Stein). Some of this was motivated by people's belief in the possibility that a third party candidate really does stand a chance and that we deserve better than a two-party system, some of it was also motivated by spite and some individuals seemingly baseless hatred for Clinton.

Here's a fact: either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump will be the next President of the United States. I'm sorry if you don't like that, but it's the truth. Third party candidates don't win, even if you think we can all get together and believe that they will, they won't. It's a broken system in need of revision, but at this current moment, it's the one that we have. For those of you who believe "we're screwed either way," please realize that we are in a significantly worse situation if Donald Trump were to become President. Now is really not the time to be trying at some third party nonsense.

For those of you who are Bernie or bust, I've gotta say I'm pretty confused given the fact that Bernie Sanders himself is not Bernie or bust. He endorsed Hillary Clinton, and even if he doesn't support everything that she's about, he is motivated like many other democrats to do whatever we can to ensure that Trump is not elected into office. If you were truly a Bernie supporter, you would stand behind him on this instead of bitching and moaning that he isn't the democratic party's candidate. You're feelings of frustration are completely valid, and you do have fair reason to believe that the nomination was taken from him. That being said though, while Sanders has truly proven himself to be a fantastic individual and politician who has been on the right side of history for decades, he is not the democratic candidate, please get over it. Understand the same way Sander's himself has that the best chance we have against Trump is Clinton. Voting for Clinton does not mean you have to give up in the political revolution.

For people supporting other third party candidates, most of whom seem to purely out of spite for Clinton, enough. Voting for a third party candidate is waste of your vote. I'm sorry if that seems unfair, and honestly I think it is too, but that's the truth. Even if this isn't your intention, taking votes away from Clinton is the same as giving them to Trump. Please consider that. This isn't disregarding what you stand for this is being realistic.

Our country is on the verge of handing over the title of Commander in Chief to a racist, misogynistic, anti-LGBTQ lizard monster wearing an ill-fitting human suit and his ever-constipated looking side-kick. Our election system needs re-evalution but that's not going to happen before this November. Again, no matter what you think or want, either Clinton or Trump will be the next President. I can't tell you who to vote for nor will I, but I will tell you that a Trump presidency poses a serious threat to pretty much every single marginalized group of people in the United States and to our foreign relations. This entire election is bigger than any one person. Please stop throwing a temper tantrum about how much you hate Hillary Clinton and realize that not only is she an incredibly qualified candidate who shares the forward thinking social ideals that will move our country forward, she is our best and only hope against a Trump presidency.