01 August 2016

Op-Ed: Some elections are about making tough choices between qualified candidates. This ain’t that.

I don’t post much about politics. I generally find the subject distasteful and divisive.
I don’t want to debate you. And I won’t.

I just need to make something perfectly clear:

I am voting for Hillary Clinton. Because I’m not an an irresponsible jerk.
Donald Trump is a vile and incompetent excuse for a human being. He is the most unqualified and dangerous “serious” candidate for our country’s highest office (or for any public office, for that matter - I would not vote for this man for local dog catcher) that I have seen in my entire adult life - and that timeline includes more than a few elections and at least two Republican presidents. 
He’s a bad man and he would be the worst President. Full Stop. 
If you honestly think Trump is not only intellectually and morally fit to hold public office, but the best candidate for the job … I can’t help you. I can only politely excuse myself from your company and hope for all our sakes that we never have to live with the consequences of your terrible decision. 
But, honestly, this message is not for you.
(And should you choose to unfriend/unfollow/block, etc. me because of my opinion, I will … well, let’s be honest, I’m gonna judge the hell out of you. I’m just not that enlightened. But I’ll probably still love you and wish you the best. Personal relationships are complicated like that. Namaste. And ‘Bye.)
No, this rant is for those who know in your heart and your mind, as I do, that the human dumpster fire that the Republican Party has nominated is the worst possible thing that could happen to our country and our world.
I refuse to believe that the majority of the American people are stupid enough to allow this ignorant, hateful, narcissistic parody of an American any closer to the Oval Office than he is at this very moment. 
We simply cannot allow that happen. Okay? Okay.
So, what are YOU going to do about it?
Because if your answer is anything other than “Elect Clinton” then you are part of the problem right now.
Oh, Clinton wasn’t your first choice? Cool. Guess what, she wasn’t even my third choice. 
But, flawed as it is, we have a process. And that process has brought us to this point in time. You need to take a minute and deal with that. And then you need to man up and vote for Hillary Clinton.
Because the reality is that a vote for anyone other than Hillary Clinton is a vote for Donald Trump.
Your choice is no longer about who will be nominated. That moment has passed.  Your choice is not currently about whether a two-party system is the best process. That’s a different battle. Your choice is not a philosophical exercise on the nature of the electoral vote or political corruption or American democracy. That’s a whole ‘nother set of discussions.
Your choice isn’t even about the lesser of two evils.
It’s the choice between an intelligent, highly qualified Democratic candidate with whom you might disagree on some, maybe even many, issues… and the walking embodiment of stupidity, hatred and narcissism that has been propped up by the proudly ignorant and vocally racist arm of a flop-sweating Republican party desperately trying to Final Girl it’s way past the monster it has birthed. 
That’s your choice. 
When you know there really is no choice: 
Welcome to the Light Side, we have cookies Sanity. 
Go vote.