I am pretty uncomfortable and even conflicted about writing this, but if there's any American friends of voting age out there, please hear me out -

United we stand, divided we fall

I know, you know, that voting (and through that a working democracy) is the only way to really direct the trajectory of a country's future. In history, dictatorships and uprisings have generally not worked to create a better world, and the reason has been that the majority opinion (which generally tends to be a mitigating, moderate influence) and needs have not been taken care of and successive discontent groups have splintered the populace's support for unified reforms. Power in the hand of the few i.e. any oligarchy, leads to tyranny and destruction of common rights and properties, as the community's assets are stripped to enrich the already 'haves'. Anarchy is no solution either, because here the strong easily prey on the weak. Revolution without Governance is impossible!!!

Man is a social animal

We cannot have the nihilist position of every politician is evil, what is the point of voting, etc! That is a breach of our sacred duty to not only save ourselves but also the betrayal of the human and humane imperative to protect those weaker. We literally cannot be thinking, "Well, who cares about others as long I get to keep what is mine!" Just suppose, if you fell into credit card debt, and your house was taken away? Your parents lost the jobs, and now you don't have money for the heating bill let alone school? If everyone is selfish, who will help you stand back up again? Society, that is we, as a whole need a security net so if any one of us falls we can bounce back - not fall to our death!

We can fix it

Bernie Sanders, from Vermont - a white old man from a pre-dominantly white state -  is a presidential candidate for the Democratic Party for the upcoming American Elections next year. Yeah, you would be like 'another old white dude' blah blah... Well, this old white dude has a unbroken history of supporting motions that are LGBTQ, POC/Black, Poor/Middle Class, Anti-War and basically 'sanity' favourable! And, he's been supporting these when these were not easy views to support, even were fringe views for the general populace! And he did all this while running for office in a mostly white state - that is, he didn't even need to support these motions to get votes, also just maybe these views were even detrimental to his political image! He did all this, for this long, because he actually believed in these principles! (Surprised to see a principled politician? Shocker right?)

I am not saying he is perfect - he is human, he is an old-school 'hippie', he wants to protect the American working-class, and he is not blanket anti-guns. You may see veiled attacks on his Jewish identity via the Israel/Palestine issue, his 'Democratic Socialist' politics linked with Communist terror-regimes, and be suspicious of how he managed to stay in power for so long as an Independent (who caucuses with Democrats) without selling out. Well, I think - for example, on the gun issue, he supports use of guns for hunting (yes, this is generally for food or culling to protect balance of prey/preyed in an ecosystem - not the awful big game hunting) but not assault weapons or concealed carry - he has a well considered understanding of the issues he proposes and opinions he holds. There are no grand rhetorical flourishes, or one-size-fits-all-situations type easy answers from him. And, he isn't taking money from the companies, he is running on small donations from the public.

Don't go by what I say. Or, your parents and friends say. Or, CNN says. Or Wall Street Journal/Washington Post/ New York Times says. Or tumblr/facebook/instagram says. IT IS YOUR RIGHT TO CHECK UP ON HIM!!! YOU HAVE THE POWER TO DECIDE! HELP YOURSELF TO GET A BETTER DEAL FOR YOU!!

Know about the man and his policies from his own words:

But, when you decide, to put him on the ticket:

1. You need to vote for him in the primaries. Please find out if your state's primaries allow you to vote, if you need to register under a party, and when are the dates - to register and to vote! Get everyone you know and can convince to do so to go vote. I know it is much to ask - but not taking time off from work/school for those two, three days can mean losing thousands of dollars later via loss of healthcare, public aid for schools/libraries/welfare, etc. - and in the long term making lives and living standards much worse.

2. Give him, and ask your parents, friends, neighbours to send him some money - basic change of a few dollars from a number of us can trump (hee hee pun!) the billionaires' deep pockets, and keep Sanders going on.

3. Talk to anyone you can get your hands on - by door-to-door canvassing, facebook, in class, in church/mosque/temple/synagogue meetups, anywhere - about just what is at stake: issues that affect us all being taken up as pledges by a politician who is not a careerist, sold-off, out of touch clown!

Please do this - not only for yourself, your nation, and your image in the world - but because America's foreign policy, aid controls, trade influences and its almost stranglehold on most earthwide institutions eg. IMF, UN etc. mean that many around the world, by end of next year, can have hope for a common life, a more peaceful existence, non-truncated healthcare (you know of Bush's anti-choice controls on humanitarian aid even for war regions right?) and most importantly, the right to vote as non-oppressed citizens, changing the world for the better with each drop of a marked ballot into the box.