Full disclosure before I start: I am no expert in politics. In fact, I would say I know less about politics than the average American, but then again I may just be selling myself short. Either way, I'm not trying to sway readers one way or the other, nor will I go into depth about the candidates' policies and why you should or shouldn't vote for them. I won't be doing this because if I were to try I'd get torn to shreds by the people who actually know what they're talking about.
I'm writing this piece because regardless of the amount of knowledge I have when it comes to this year's election, I'm smart enough to realize that the path this country is going down right now is a very shaky one. I have a lot of bad feelings surrounding this election, and I feel like a lot of people might feel the same way. I'm having these feelings because the 2016 Presidential Election has made me think, more than any other election year has, about my nationality and what it means to actually be an American. I've been asked a lot lately who I might be voting for when the time comes. And I honestly can say that when I'm asked this question, I do not have an answer. Actually, I do have an answer, and that answer is nobody. If the election were today I probably wouldn't vote. I would just sit at home and let everybody else decide which numbnuts gets to rule the free world next.
But, would that be acceptable? To most people it wouldn't be. The most common response I get when I tell people that I might not vote is "you must really not care." So, let me get this straight. Because I don't want an idiot to be my next president, that must mean I don't care. Because I don't want a liar to be my next president, that also must mean I don't care. In my mind, this doesn't really seem to be adding up.
The next argument I get after it's settled that I indeed do not care, is the one where my vote suddenly counts more than everyone else's. "Just vote for Hillary as a vote against Trump," they say. If my vote even remotely effected the outcome of the election (which it doesn't), then it would make just as strong a statement to leave my vote out altogether. This way, I still don't have to vote for Trump while also not having to reluctantly vote for Hillary, both of which I don't support even in the slightest. It's a win-win.
I'm tired of hearing about how I don't care about this country because I don't want to vote in an election that could, in my mind, set this country back twenty years. I love this country immensely, and couldn't imagine growing up in any other part of the world, which is why I can't find it in myself to support either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump.
