I understand that America is fucked up. I understand you’re angry about it. Still, you might as well vote.

Have you ever voted? It takes like, twenty minutes. It’s real quick. You’re in and out. It’s basically an errand on the way home from work. It takes less time than a trip to the grocery store. It won’t cramp your schedule at all.

YM Carrington writes that he is giving up on voting in American elections, and lists his reasons: rampant structural racism and police brutality throughout the nation; America’s history of disenfranchising black people and blocking their route to political power; and the failure of the Democratic party to end these racist dynamics despite getting a majority of the black vote. “I’m not voting,” Carrington writes, “because I cannot participate in the electoral system of a government that doesn’t care if black people live or die.”

All of these complaints are true. Still, you should vote. It’s mad quick.

Is not voting going to help to solve any of these issues? No. It will not help. It will only enable those who oppose you to gain ground. “These days, I choose to focus my time and energy on the work of activists fighting for genuine liberation, instead of a plutocratic electoral system desperate for legitimacy and relevance in a world that is rapidly leaving them behind,” Carrington says.

You still have time for a quick little vote though. I promise. Literally a run in, run out type thing. Won’t take away from your schedule of fighting for genuine liberation at all.

You can do all that activist stuff and still vote because to vote you really just click a few holes on a punch card, and boom—right back to liberation work.

America sure is fucked up. But the cause of that fucked up-ness is not voting. You might as well still vote. Make your voice heard. Stand up for your choice. Exercise your right. I’m not saying hang around the voting booth all day, totally wrecking your schedule. I’m talking about just voting fast, then getting back to whatever else you like to do.

You know who does not want you to vote? Your enemies.

Vote. It’ll be done in a flash.

[Photo: Flickr]