Becky Chapman

We all know the type. First, if you oppose their candidate, they insult and try to bully you with names like RINO or squish or even cuck and say, "Good riddance. We don’t need you." That’s stage 1. In Stage 2, their guy either wins or loses a primary. If they win, they insult and bully the losing candidate and his or her supporters, often also telling them to take a hike from their party. But they know on some level that they are wrong, and the greater their insecurity, the more ferocious and intense their insults and bullying. It’s human nature, In Stage 3, where we are now, the policy and character flaws of their candidates are thoroughly exposed and their candidate falls behind in the polls in a general election that should have been a layup. The same people who insulted and tried to bully you and sent you "bye Felicia" memes a few months ago are now demanding that you be a "team player" and vote for their guy. That’s how they see politics — solely as a team sport. They are incapable of thinking of politics on any strategic or philosophical level, and TOTALLY incapable of seeing any longer-term consequences from supporting the very worst people they can find with the pretext being only that in their minds, the other side is even worse. We need to break this cycle. The best way to do it is with your vote, or your non-vote. I hate to break it to everyone, but your one single vote is not going to change the result of an election. Either the voters as a collective will decide or, in a very close election, some judge or set of judges will decide. Not you. This means that you can use your vote any way you choose, including sending a message to both sides to stop offering us unfit, unqualified candidates for public office.