I have long believed that we each have a responsibility as citizens to vote. It's not a privilege or a right. No, voting is a solemn responsibility. So, what to do? It seems that I know more and more people all the time that are talking about not voting. "They both are bad, so why bother?" Oh, I don't know, because your future and that of your entire nation depend on it?
So, if voting is a solemn responsibility and both candidates are bad options, then what should a person do? Well, actually that's a trick question because it is based on patently untrue assumptions. This is not an either/or situation. This is not a one of two situation. It may FEEL that way, yes. But it is not the truth.
What is the truth then? Before I answer that, I want to look more at the situation. When we vote in the primaries, we are wondering if the candidate we like can beat the candidate we think will win the nomination for the "other side." Often, we vote not to pick the best candidate, but to defeat our fear. Then we get to an election with the need to pick between two bad options. This of course gives us four or eight years to complain about the person that we helped to elect. The belief that we must vote between two parties is a self imposed delusion of epidemic proportions. And as long as many people believe there are no other alternatives, the problem will exist.
So, the truth.... The USA has a multi-party system. Virtually any number of parties can bring candidates before the public However, the citizens influence the election of one of the main parties time and time again. Historically, at least for president, voting for any candidate not on the Republican or Democratic ticket has been worth little more than writing in Mickey Mouse. But this is because we keep doing the same thing over and over again. It is the fault of the American voters who claim to want something different that we don't have something different.
As is often the case, the only effective solution will be to do the right thing. And the right thing is to vote our conscience. It may not work this time. We might indeed see the worst of two evils take the White House. But if we vote our conscience, if we take a stand, voting our conscience will gain momentum and we might just see things change.