It appears that neither the lies and barbarisms of Trump or the incoherent ramblings of Biden have done much to alter the inclinations of voters, one way or the other. Both sides are intrenched and committed, they see their opponents as so mistaken and evil that they will vote for their side no matter how flawed or failed they perceive their own candidate to be. Those who will decide this election will be those who don’t vote at all. It will be those who proudly proclaim; “I’m sitting this one out because both sides are fucked up. Voting is a waste of time, it doesn’t matter who wins.”

We live in a democracy, with all its injustices, flaws and shortcomings, the government we wind up with still reflects (more or less), the will of the people. Even when electoral technicalities or malfeasance and even outright manipulation pervert this model, we still can say that the citizen has an influence on how he is governed. Choosing the wrong path may be due to ignorance, or stupidity, perhaps even coercion, but it should never be the result of apathy. The choice for our future is clear to me, but if a majority of my countrymen choose differently, I can live with that. I may disagree, I may go into exile, I may even rebel, but I will accept the decision of the majority. I am a democrat, with a small ‘d’.

But if this election is decided by those who, having the right to vote refuse to do so, then we no longer live in a democracy. A lazy and selfish minority has refused to exercise what little power they still have. In spite of all the contradictions and inconsistencies in our system, we still live in one of the freest and most prosperous countries on the planet. Surely, the stresses and strains of earning a living, or the temptations and seductions of consumerism and media, are not so overwhelming that we cannot exercise the one right we have to change things. Talk to any immigrant who lost that right in his own country what a bitter tragedy that is. And listen carefully to the stranger who can still vote in his country, but there is no real choice. How dare we claim “it doesn’t matter who wins” when we still have two sides in open conflict here.

The disinterested and the apathetic, the selfish and lazy, are the true evil. They are worse than my political opponents. They share the responsibility for why we are in our current dilemma. They are not just mistaken, they are contemptible, because they will squander my freedom along with theirs.