Voting for Anarchy
Did you know there's a general election on November 8, 2016 in the United States? Oh, you did. Yeah. It's been almost impossible to ignore the nearly two year long campaign for President of the United States what with surprise populist candidates on both ends of the political spectrum (Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump), plus enough rightward facing arrows for Hillary Clinton to direct people in circles for an eternity, plus viable third party candidates (Jill Stein and Gary Johnson). Almost every news organization has breathlessly covered every detail to the point where people flinch at words like "Benghazi" and "pussy".
And let me tell you, making pussy a flinch-worthy word takes a lot of skill. The best skills. The biggest skills. Only the classiest skills.
The point of this op-ed isn't to discuss the candidates. Honestly, if you're truly undecided between Clinton and Trump still, maybe you should vote on November 28th. You know, just wait and see what happens. What I do what to discuss is why voting is important and why even anarchists need to vote.
As an anarchafeminist, no one wants to bring down "The System" more than I do. In anarchist circles, there's a lot of talk about how voting to change a system won't change the system because the system is broken. That kind of logic is defeatist. Not voting serves no one but the elite. It doesn't further your cause. It doesn't help steer the country in one direction or the other. It doesn't make you morally superior to all the "sheep", who dutifully line up to cast their ballots.
Let's break it down, shall we? Yes, the system is broken. However, we can't opt out of the system. We don't get to walk away and ignore it. Whether we vote or not, the system exists. It's our reality, it's our Matrix. Defeating it or repairing it requires work. We're given tools by our government that many people around the world would kill for, but we choose not to use them because talk is easier than action.
The thing is, your vote does count. Depending on what state you live in or which candidate you're voting for, the impact of your vote may be different, but the vote will be counted. Here in Ohio, we have the joy of being a bellwether for the election..."as goes Ohio, so goes the nation" has been an electoral fact for over fifty years. Because we're a battleground state, we have to weigh our votes carefully. If we were in a reliably conservative state like Indiana or a reliably liberal state like California, we could vote our conscience more easily, but in a state like Ohio, we have to decide if a third party vote, for example, will help or hurt the "lesser evil" candidate from the two major parties.
"But why vote?", you ask. You vote to help steer the car in the direction you want to go. Let's say you're riding in a car, and the driver has a heart attack. The steering wheel turns into oncoming traffic. You have a split second choice: do you turn the wheel back to your lane and possibly go off the road and hit a tree or a parked car OR do you turn the wheel a little to the left and hit a semi head on. Most sane people would vote for the first option. It's not ideal. You're most likely going to be injured. The accident will mess up your life and cost you money, but you'll walk away from it alive and able to go work for Google designing self-driving cars. That's what voting is...it gives you the opportunity to choose a direction that might not be perfect, but one that will allow you to continue working toward the changes you want.
Now that I've made the case for voting, you need to know this: Your vote won't mean a damn thing, if you don't actively work within your community to make the changes you want to see. The vote is nice. It's cute. But it's just the beginning of what you need to do in order to change or defeat the system. Yeah, I hate to tell you this, but the real work comes after the vote. The real work is in organizing people to protest, demonstrate, write or call elected officials. The real work is in educating your friends, family, and community about what your goals are and why they're important. The real work is in speaking out and up in the face of injustice, misogyny, bigotry, and hatred. The real work is in going out and actively finding people to help. The real work is in creating networks of activists to follow, to lead, to collaborate with and to inspire. The real work is in staying informed as to what elected officials are doing at every point in the system from your city council members to your POTUS.
And the realest work of all? Subverting the system however you can. Don't buy into the consumerist cycle of consumption. Learn to grow and cook your own food. Plant flora that will attract bees and butterflies. Take public transportation. Walk around in an unfamiliar neighborhood. Boycott exploitative corporations. Teach your children everything you know. Don't follow the herd; forge your own path proudly and with confidence.
So, yeah. Get out there and vote because if you don't vote, someone else's vote gets counted and you're left voiceless. And then do all the work necessary to make changes.
I guarantee if you do all that, it will change your life.