In early July, a poll showed that 13 percent of people would rather have life on earth obliterated by a giant meteor than vote for Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton. This is not a feeling that is difficult to understand, given that both nominees are historically unpopular and arguably unfit for office. In any election in which she was not running against Donald Trump, Clinton’s scandal-riddled past and demonstrably poor judgment would doubtlessly sink her. In any election in which he was not running against Hillary Clinton, Trump’s crippling inability to keep his mouth shut and his allergy to facts would doubtlessly sink him.
But here we are. It’s August, the general election is ramping up to the finish line in three months and they’re both still clinging to life, more on the lack of merits of their opponent than on their own merits. Both parties are disappointed and worried, and people are considering voting third party or not voting at all.
Don’t do either of those things.
The youth vote is incredibly important. We could make up as much as 20 percent of the electorate — a figure that was decisive in 2008 and 2012. We are increasingly more diverse than the rest of the country. We are also the future, as cliche as that sounds. Our opinions should be important when choosing new presidents, new legislators and new governors, because ultimately they make and enforce the laws we’re going to have to live with.
It’s easy to feel like your vote doesn’t matter. And yes, out of all two hundred million eligible voters in the U.S., your vote is probably not significant by itself. But votes aren’t really meant to be examined by themselves — by the definition of majority rule, the consensus of how everyone feels is more important than the personal feelings of Joe Nobody in Nebraska. Your vote is significant in that it feeds into that consensus — the more people we have lending their opinions to an election, the more fully it captures how America feels.
The way things are in this country, you need to vote to change things. If you’re not happy with America as it is, protesting is good and draws attention to your cause, but the only way real change will be enacted is if your elected representatives are willing to change what you want changed and are competent enough to fight for you. The chance of those things being true goes down if you weren’t one of the people electing them.
This, of course, doesn’t capture people who are prevented from voting for other reasons — voter ID laws, criminal records, can’t take the time off work, can’t get transportation to the polling place — but those are all separate arguments entirely. If you are eligible and able to vote, you should.
But if you’re going to vote in the 2016 election, as you should, you’re now faced with a Sophie’s choice of a ballot — two candidates who are so distasteful they almost rip a hole in the fabric of reality and make their opponent look like a good option. A third party feels like an escape from choosing between the tigers waiting for you at the base of the cliff and the tigers waiting for you at the top.
But it isn’t, especially in this particular presidential election. If you actually swing Libertarian or Green, then voting for Johnson or Stein is reasonable enough, and this article isn't for you. But if you’re doing it so that you don’t have to vote for one of the candidates who actually have a chance, you’re not so much escaping from the tigers above and below as you’re leaving the choice of which tiger kills you up to somebody else. Somebody you might not know. Whose judgment you might not trust.
The fact is that, barring a circumstance even more extraordinary than this election has been so far, our next president will be either Trump or Clinton. For my part, I don’t like Clinton, but I vastly prefer her to Trump. I may not trust her as far as I can throw her, but I mostly support the platform she was pushed into adopting, and I’d rather have a platform I mostly support under a candidate I feel is less likely to bring on economic decline, foreign relations disasters and repressive policy than the alternative.
Understandably, that feels like a distasteful choice to most people. But the choice is going to be made regardless of whether you make it. More votes for third party candidates certainly do show your disapproval of the system, but they also mean that fewer people are deciding which evil you get in the end — which means that they may not pick the one the majority of people hate less, because they’re less likely to vote in a way that represents America.
Whether you think Trump or Clinton is the lesser evil, not voting or voting third party isn’t avoiding evil — it’s just relinquishing control over which evil eventually comes to pass. Particularly in the case of young voters, who tend to be more liberal, staying home or swinging staying home or swinging third party hurts Clinton more than it hurts Trump, but if you’re a not-Clinton supporter who chooses not to cast your vote for the Donald, you’re hurting him, too.
To young voters who think a Trump presidency would be a disaster, like me: Vote Hillary. To young voters who think Hillary would be worse in the White House: I don’t understand how you came to that conclusion, but vote your conscience, I suppose. I know that particularly asking GOP voters to go blue to avoid Trump is asking a lot, but it's a choice worth considering.
For many Americans, it’s a tough choice, but it’s a tough choice you should make. Even if both outcomes are something you never wanted.
Don’t give up your voice. And don’t let other people choose for you. Vote in November. For Clinton or Trump.
Then hope for the meteor.