Now is not the time to be despondent.
Now is not the time to be self-righteous.
Now is not the throw your hands in the air and say “Oh well, we tried our best, but the evil fuckers still won.”
For if you genuinely care about creating the change you seek in the world – which is after all the whole point of voting – you’ll realise that what you did yesterday in that polling station was a drop in the ocean, democratically speaking. And seeing it as any more than that is incredibly foolish.
You are here to bring about change – that is what you were born to do. To bring about a unique change – one that only you could bring. There are an infinite number of ways to do this, the only limit being your creativity and your willingness.
And so to view voting every few years as the best way – or indeed the only way – to do that, is to pretty much guarantee the change never happens.
Have you ever tried to cut through a shoe with a butter knife? Well, that’s what you’re doing when you expect meaningful change to come from engaging with our current blunt system of democracy – voting for parliamentary seats in a first-past-the-post election. It’s better than doing nothing, sure, but only slightly.
Your problem is that you do not view your every waking breath as an opportunity to create change.
Yes, vote when asked to. But for the love of God don’t cast your ballot paper and then think “Right, I’ve done my bit. I’ll be happy for a few years if ‘we’ win, angry for a few years if ‘we’ lose.”
Yes, you have done your bit. But don’t kid yourself – that was all it was: a bit. The bare minimum. Now do something else.
Life is an election that is fought anew every day. And there are only two options: good or evil.
Don’t wait until we’ve had another five years of this shit to start trying to choose good.