I waited a while to post about this.
Election Day was a real challenge for me. You see, I think people thought I was kidding when I said I wouldn’t vote for the Democrat this year. A few have called me a racist, but very few to my face. Race has nothing to do with it, trust me. (My dating past alone is like the United Nations.) I just don’t like or respect this man. Case closed.
This left me with a dilemma, though. You see, back in the dark, deep past, I was originally registered as a Republican. I actually voted for GHW Bush back in the 1980 Primary – he was running on a moderate, pro-choice platform at the time. Yes, it’s true. Even then, though, I knew the evil that was Ronald Reagan, and the branch of the Republican Party he represented. I knew it would mean the end of my party as I knew it, even at the age of 18.
So, I voted for Carter. I switched parties and became a Democrat after that election. Thus began nearly 3 decades of voting for the Democratic Nominee, even when I was less than thrilled.
During this season, the more I listened to the eventual Democratic Nominee, the less he sounded different, and the less the Democrats sounded different from the Republicans. I think he promised everything to everybody at one point or another. (Post election, the BBC World Service reported about a woman who honestly believed that Obama – freshly elected that night – would pay her mortgage and other bills for her. She *honestly* believed that.)
I wanted to vote for change. I wanted to stay with the Democratic Party, but realized, as so many had said … they left me, not the other way around. How to vote for change?
And then the simple and the obvious dawned on me. I could vote Green. I knew they’d never win, but the way I could help bring about change was to support another party with another set of ideas. You see, I don’t think the American people really got much of a choice for President this election in the two big parties.
Maybe by supporting a third party, I could help get other options out there. Maybe others would have the same idea.
So, I did it.
For the first time in my life, I voted to have more options, rather than the same, no-option of the Democrats and Republicans. Rather than vote for a man I didn’t respect and could never vote for, or for a man whom I do respect, but whose ideals are antithetical to my existence and could never vote for… I voted a different way.
Did I make a difference? Did I help Change? Yes, I did. If only in me and the way I’ll think about candidates and political parties and options in the future. Hopefully, it’ll mean more and go further …
