My Vote of No Confidence
This week I cast my ballot, as I have in every U.S. general election and nearly every mid-term since I first became eligible to vote in 1988. But for the first time, I did not vote for a presidential candidate. This was not a decision I took lightly.
I’d long since abandoned the Democratic Party, and more recently left the Green Party as well to become an independent voter. I still looked to the San Francisco Green Party voter guide for advice on local and state ballot measures, which I feel are important to me to weigh in on, though I don’t always agree with the Greens’ recommendations or endorsements.
But I was not happy with the Greens’ presidential candidate selection process this year. (Former Green candidate Ian Schlakman has posted some insights on this issue.) I considered voting for my preferred candidate (Dario Hunter) when he went on to run with a new party, but he was not qualified for write-in access in California by the time I was ready to mail in my ballot.
Regardless, I’d been losing confidence in the U.S. government for a long time, and have grown increasingly convinced that no third party or independent candidate has a realistic chance under our current system. True, lasting reform will not take place at the ballot box; it will take a genuine revolution.
