Well, I knew I would end up talking about politics eventually.

It is a presidential election season, after all.

Relax, I’m not here to tell you who to vote for…

…well, not in the way you’re expecting, at any rate.

No, this is less who to vote for, than it is about why to vote – but I’ll get back to that in a minute.

It seems, on both sides of the aisle, we have candidates who are leading in the primaries and candidates who are following close behind. It looks to be an interesting convention season.

(That is, if one or more of the candidates don’t take the silly media’s advice and drop out because obviously the other one has it locked up.) – If. Fucking. Only.

But, as we are nearing an interesting party convention season, of course, the media pundits are projecting out to the general election, because they get points for guessing correctly, I suppose.

And what I’m hearing in the media, spouted by anyone who has a mouth and a platform, is talk of political spoilers.

For those of you who don’t know what a political spoiler is, allow me to illustrate with a couple of topical examples.

When Bill Clinton was campaigning for his first term in office, Ross Perot funded and ran a campaign for the Presidency as well. Some pundits think that Old Crazy Perot pulled just enough votes away from George H. W. Bush to allow Clinton to win the race.

Likewise, when Al Gore was running against George W. Bush, Ralph Nader mounted a successful – for the time – campaign as an independent. (The Green Party, I believe). Back then, when Gore lost, many accused the people who voted for Nader of being political spoilers who lost Al Gore the presidency.

Well, that was bullshit too. What Bush’s friends didn’t steal for him, Al lost all on his own. Some people just make better vice presidents than actual presidents. I like Joe Biden, but I don’t want to see him in the highest office in the land.

But that’s what I mean when I say political spoilers, and that’s what the media pundits mean too. Someone who stays in the race when the conventional wisdom says that they should drop out and let their base vote for someone who might actually win.

I recently heard a celebrity – a rather intelligent one, but that by no account means that he should be listened to – remark that people who have been in favor of Bernie Sanders should vote for Hilary Clinton if she’s the nominee, just because it’s better than Trump, or whatever bat-shit crazy candidate the GOP will serve up at their convention. He – the celebrity in question – called it childish if the Sanders voters didn’t tow the party line in this.

Fucking Really?

Childish?

To vote one’s conscience?

This is stupidity. And quite like religion, I’m fine with you enjoying your stupidity in the privacy of your own home, but keep it from fucking with my life, would ya’ please?!

The entire point of this type of democracy is to vote for the representative that best speaks to your views and values.

It is not to crown some party favorite, regardless of who thinks it’s their due, or who the crazy son of a bitch on the other side is.

And you know what? If no candidate speaks to your issues, it’s perfectly fine not to vote at all.

(Incidentally, we just might stop getting a shitty government if we just stopped voting for the lesser of the two evils. Just a thought).

For me, if the candidate I currently favor does not get the nomination, the other choice isn’t close enough for me to even consider voting for. And I don’t really care if that means that the other side gets the office.

I vote for who best represents me. Period.

Now, maybe you do worry over whether or not the other side gets their candidate behind the desk in the oval office. If your conscience runs to party lines like that, then vote that way. I wish you all the best.

Just don’t go telling me that my voice only matters if it’s saying what you want to hear.

That’s not democracy.

And it sure as hell isn’t freedom.

Democracy isn’t about staying in line.

It isn’t about these idiot political games we play every four years.

It’s about having your voice heard.

It’s about having a say in your own destiny and the destiny of your country.

And you should be damn suspicious of anyone who tells you otherwise.

So, if your candidate doesn’t end up winning the nomination, feel free to do what I’m going to do:

Pull up a chair and watch the freak show.

The popcorn’s popped.

The butter’s melted.

And the previews are just about over…

…Time for the main feature.