I do not think I have to tell you that this year's election is different. There is certainly a lot more at stake than there has been in decades, and that holds true regardless of who you plan to vote for tomorrow. But it is important to remember that we have the power to decide the outcome. By voting, citizens have the final say in who represents us, what values they represent, and how we look to the rest of the world.
I want to remind you all today that it is your duty as an American citizen to vote. I will not tell you who to vote for; you can vote for Hillary, Trump, Johnson or Stein. But I do just ask of you one thing: that you do vote. If you are one of the few that decide that you will not be participating on Tuesday, I would like to remind you of one thing:
If you do not vote, then you have no right to complain about the results of the election.
At all. Period.
The only time you can waste your vote, in my opinion, is if you don't vote at all. Nothing is more infuriating than someone complaining about being in a situation, when they themselves did nothing to prevent themselves from being in the situation. If you don't vote, you are not allowed to complain. If you complain, it's your own fault, because you really should have f***ing voted.
To my fellow Bernie supporters; if you plan on writing his name in, that is also a waste of your vote. Senator Sanders has spent every day since he announced his endorsement for Hillary Clinton pleading with his supporters to vote for her instead of him. He is no longer running, and as much as I hate how he was treated in the primaries, we have to follow his directions. If you are Bernie or Bust and you write him in on Tuesday, you are directly going against his wishes, and you have proven that you do not support him.
It has been a bad year for America, I get it. But we have the power to decide if we want it to have a chance at improving, or if we want it to get worse. In the words of Lin-Manuel Miranda, don't throw away your shot.