Today I did something I have never really done before – I read a Presidential candidate’s stand on issues. I actually Googled “Bernie Sanders Platform on issues” and then realized that’s what Beauty Pageant contestants have, they have platforms. It turns out Presidential candidates have “stands on issues” not platforms. I did not know that. See, that’s how uninvolved in politics I have been. How sad and pathetic is that?
I must admit something else. I don’t read the news. Well, I haven’t up until just recently. But this election year has really sent me to the news websites, because we in the United States are facing some really scary times ahead, and even I am aware of that. I generally don’t read the news at all, I like to live in my own bubble, but I am afraid, as Americans, we are really going to screw up majorly if we continue down this path of apathy, this “taking care of number one” mentality and not looking at the big picture. We are going to get bamboozled into voting for a Presidential candidate, who we view as the lesser of two evils, and then spend the next four years wishing we hadn’t.
In a little under a week, the California Primaries will take place. I surprise myself by knowing this tidbit of information. But I can assure you, I am going to be there – at the Boy Scouts headquarters down the street, filling out my ballot. I have to do this. I cannot sit by idly and let our country, which is already in the toilet – get flushed into the sewer.
I came home last night, after a long day at work, and looked at the news on my phone, gathering up the energy to make a somewhat appetizing dinner. I sit and look at my telephone, reading the news websites about Trump, and his bombastic self, and Hillary and her dishonest self and then there is Bernie Sanders. He seems like a real person, not a caricature of a person. He seems sincere, he apparently thinks about issues and he really seems to get what it is to be a working class person. The news says Clinton is going to win the nomination and so we will be stuck between deciding to vote for Trump or Clinton. What the heck? That’s like having to decide between being burnt to death or disemboweled.
So then I Googled “What if I don’t want to vote for Clinton or Trump, because they both suck?” These were the results on the first page:
poll-stopping-hillary-is-the-top-reason-why-voters-will-back-trump
donald-trump-is-grotesque-but-i-will-never-vote-for-hillary-clinton
reasons-will-not-vote-trump
washington-voters-can-still-vote-for-ousted-republican-presidential-candidates
duty-every-sanders-supporter-vote-hillary
undeniable-reasons-you-can-not-vote-hillary-clinton
why-hillary-clinton-cannot-beat-donald-trump
donald-trump-hillary-clinton-general-election-analysis
ill-take-hillary-clinton-over-donald-trump
general-election-is-going-to-suck
Obviously, there are a HUGE amount of people out there that are is the same quandary as I am. What to do? Then I started thinking, assuming it comes down to Trump or Clinton, which according to the news it will, what can I do to protest this circus of an election (apparently the whole world thinks our American Presidential election is a total joke). I mean, I have so little of a voice, I can’t even get AT&T to stop charging me data overage charges, how on earth is my one little vote going to make any difference. I sat and pondered that for a while, along with what the heck was I going to make for dinner, and wouldn’t it just be better if I sent the boys out for dinner, but then they would want Sushi and I don’t want to spend a boatload of money on Sushi when my underwear drawer has more holes in it than a block of Swiss Cheese. So, I Googled – what if I write in Bernie Sanders as a candidate instead of being forced to choose between two candidates I really don’t trust and who honestly scare the crap out of me?
I found this website “Citizens Against Plutocracy”. Very interesting, and basically it is a movement to garner one million pledges to write-in Bernie Sanders on the Presidential Election ballot. Honestly, I was about to look up the definition of “Plutocracy” but then after reading a bit more, the definition was kindly provided. I signed up, I took the pledge, and I am doing something to protect the United States from the ravages that will inevitably and irrevocably scour the face of the last bit of what used to be a great country.
Having never posted anything at all about religion or politics, I take a stand on this now, because this is really, really important. We as Americans, need to rise up, and say enough is enough. We are tired of being walked all over, being taken advantage of, and we will not be forced into voting for a candidate we don’t believe in, just because they are less distasteful than the other candidate. We have bailed big banks out, we have watched our incomes drop, and the majority of us are living paycheck to paycheck while no one is Washington gives a crap. We are a country run by big corporations, and the corporations are getting bigger and stronger while we get weaker and weaker. We have to fight this. We cannot settle.
I used to say I would move to Australia if either Trump or Clinton became President. But you know what, I am not being chased out of this country – I will stand fast and do something.
Photo credit: cnn.com