The scariest thing I saw on Halloween was this Facebook post by Occupy Wall Street urging people not to vote:
More accurately, that Facebook post was not by Occupy Wall Street; it was posted by the morons currently running the Facebook account for Occupy Wall Street. And they are the last human beings who should be giving advice to anyone. This is a seriously flawed analogy. "Blaming non-voters for election results" is not at all like "blaming non-drivers for car accidents." I could come up with any number of analogies for people who don't vote, but I won't, because it's a stupid game and it's not worth my time.
If you're not happy with the two-party system, don't vote for the two-party system. Vote for a third-party candidate wherever possible. If you're not comfortable voting in a particular race because neither candidate represents your views, say, because both candidates are do-nothing conservative Democrats, don't vote in that particular race. But do vote in the races that you really care about. We have at least one promising third-party candidate running in Seattle this very election—a socialist climate scientist, no less!—and I'm proud to say that I voted for her. You might argue that a vote for third-party candidates is a wasted vote. I might argue that you're an idiot. If enough people vote for socialists and Green Party candidates and progressive weirdos (especially in races that are not in danger of being lost to Republicans), that will send a message to the Democratic Party that we want them to more accurately represent us by being more liberal, more inclusive, more diverse. And sometimes, just sometimes, the socialist wins.
The fact is, if you honestly want to tell me that there's absolutely no difference between the two political parties, you are most likely a white man. You know why? Because Republicans are against reproductive choice. Republicans are against allowing minorities to vote. Republicans are against anything but serving the very wealthy. And I understand your frustration that Democrats don't represent the true will of the people, that they're fighting a battle of inches when the true change we need is miles away. But the way to make that change is by getting more involved with the political process, not less.
Election night does not look good for Democrats. The only real question is whether Democrats will lose catastrophic numbers of seats nationwide, or merely suffer a minor setback. I harbor no illusions that this is going to be the election where the true voice of the people is heard. But if everyone stopped playing the game the Republicans want us to play—where we ragequit from the whole process because we don't get exactly what we want in one single election night—we would see a hell of a lot more wins, all over the country.
