"These are the times that try men's souls."

The disillusioned citizen and uninspired voter shrink from the election of their country. Still, we must all stand beside it now, its success and prosperity determines the future of every one of us. Evil is not easily beaten, corruption has sunken into the depths of both candidates. Still, we allow distrust of experience to be weighed equally with outright ignorance and racism. What so many have disregarded is the reality that we cannot have our political ideal, and therefore we should either abstain from voting or toss our ballots into the abyss of a protest vote.

Poetics aside, we have reached another turning point in our country. We have reached a crossroads at which we need to decide what our country will stand for in the eyes of the world. On one side, there is a candidate who is one of the most qualified in history. She has stood with dignity through waves of investigation for doing something that was not unprecedented. Attacks made against her appearance, voice, and emotional presentation all spark from the previously ignored sexism that has flared into an undeniable inferno in this election cycle. Massive changes in her stances on race, LGBT+ relations, war, and countless other topics come from her experience and own political evolution.

On the other hand is an unapologetic man whose greatest wealth is not the billions he doesn't pay taxes on, but his ignorance. He's a man so ignorant he remains ignorant to his own ignorance. Just last week he claimed he never stated China was behind the "hoax" (shut up, scientists, he obviously knows what he's talking about) of climate change. His own twitter account said otherwise. He claimed he had the greatest temperament and yet he regularly hurls insults at those who oppose him, almost always focused on their appearances. He claimed his opponent had been combating ISIS her entire adult life, never mind that the group has only existed (one could argue) since the 2003 invasion of Iraq. For reference, his opponent is more than 34 years old.

What so many fail to realize is that this is not the time for political idealism. People become disillusioned with the two viable candidates presented to them so instead of compromising for the lesser of two evils, they decide to stage a protest vote. Or to simply not vote at all. This is a crisis in America. This is not the time to complain when the two main candidates that we the people pushed to prominence do not align exactly with what you want in a candidate. The choice is this, outside of names and appearances: A qualified, experienced candidate with an even hand and a progressive stated agenda or an openly uninformed, bigoted candidate who has no agenda.

Now is the time to decide which candidate, at the very least will allow this country to continue prospering in the next four years until we can elect a replacement while we continue to the enjoy the rights and freedoms one candidate has openly attacked. This isn't the time to sulk or cast a protest ballot, thinking doing so will do anything to prove your point. If you can't find yourself alligning with one candidate, then you should at least be able to cast a survival ballot for the one who doesn't openly disgrace our country and threaten to abridge the freedoms bestowed upon us as citizens.

"Look on this picture and weep over it! and if there remains yet one thoughtless wretch who believes it not, let him suffer it unlamented." -Thomas Paine, the Crisis, December 23,1776