Ah, voting. I once “dated” this stoner guy who refused to vote, because all politicians are evil and corrupt anyway, so what’s the point; why participate, why support the broken system, he said. And he was right; they are evil and the system is broken.

But, I figured we need to vote anyway, because, well, what else can we do, right? It’s a free, quick, and easy thing we can do that might possibly have an effect. (Tbh I think dude was just lazy.)

That stoner guy situation was eleven years ago. Since then, I’ve cleaned up and amended my life, and converted to Traditional Catholicism. Thus, I’ve begun to consider another, more compelling reason why maybe I shouldn’t vote.

I’m no political philosopher, but I kinda think democracy… ain’t really it. In public school, they love to drill it into our brains that DEMOCRACY 🇺🇸 and FREEDOM 🦅 are the best things ever and we ought to be grateful for our power to choose. But, is that really so good?

Politics are complicated, and hard to understand, and the average working citizen just doesn’t have the time or the means to know what’s really going on and what needs to be done about it. Also, a great many people are highly unintelligent. I don’t want poorly-informed, unintelligent people making these important decisions about my children’s future. In short, I don’t really think We The People should be the ones to govern ourselves.

Monarchy gets a really bad rap these days — “No Kings” and all — but, in theory, I really think monarchy is the way to go. The catch, however, is that the monarch would have to be good: he’d have to be the selfless and enlightened Philosopher King of Plato’s Republic. (And as a Catholic, I obviously think the monarch should answer to the Holy See and operate in union with it.) Good luck finding one of those, in D.C. in 2026.

Unfortunately, because our government is a mess, we have to work with what we’ve got. It’s no use just standing there digging our heels in and going “the government sucks! We need a new one!” because that’s not going to happen. The only thing we can do, in this situation, is vote.

And yeah, as a normal citizen I’m not equipped to fully understand what’s going on and what to do about it. Why then do I still vote?

I’m 36. I’ve been voting for half my life, and the way that I vote has changed so many times over these eighteen years. I’ve spent so much time trying to figure out the best, most ethical way to do this. Our two-part system is a joke; like any sane human, I don’t fully agree with either party. I strongly support some things the Republicans propose, and strongly support some things the Democrats propose. What, then, to do?! After much prayerful consideration, I’ve decided that the best thing, the only thing I can do, really, is choose one issue that’s the most important to me, and vote on that.

“But by voting on a single issue, you’re indirectly feeding the evil machine by voting corrupt villains into power!” You know, maybe that’s true. Maybe I should try to find other ways to affect change in the areas that I think need changing. But as a busy mom on a tight budget, my options are severely limited. I don’t have the money to donate to causes, nor the time to go to rallies or protests. Voting is, like I said, free, quick, and easy.

“Then you should vote third party so as to not support the bad guys” — also a valid criticism, and worth considering. I have voted third party in the past, even written in candidates from hopelessly small parties, thinking to myself: “I should be the change I wish to see in the world! If everyone who wants to vote third party but is afraid to waste their vote would just get together and agree to actually do it, then the third parties might not be so hopelessly small! They might stand a chance!”

But after much prayerful consideration, I’ve decided that voting is an area where I need to be practical, not idealistic. Voting for a third party, especially a tiny one — you may as well not vote, and that’s a sad fact. If I throw away a vote that I could have used to make an actual difference in the area that matters to me, then I’ve done something bad. I could have made a positive difference and chose not to.

So, I grit my teeth and vote for what I see as the lesser of two evils.

My husband (who, in socionics, is an IEE Ethicist, whereas I’m an ILI Logician) has a different take. He leans strongly in one direction, when it comes to the two parties; but to him, a candidate’s personal integrity matters just as much as, if not more than, their stance on the issues. I dunno about that. For a long time, I figured I could stand to vote for an unsavory individual who does icky things behind closed doors, as long as the changes that that individual’s election would bring about were good, especially in the issue that matters most to me.

However, if that invidual being in office is causing death and destruction in other areas… and if they’re actually more evil than we previously thought… at what point does that outweigh the slight good that might be brought about in the one area? I don’t know. After half my life, I’m still conflicted.

So yeah, obviously I vote, in every election. Whether we should have the power to vote is questionable, but as long as we have the power to vote, I think we ought to. To vote or not to vote is a very simple question, imo. The more interesting question is how to vote, in 2026 America. And I don’t know if I’ll ever figure it out.