I’ve been avoiding commenting about politics because primaries are a depressing shit show that reveal sides of humanity that should probably stay bottled up. It’s like that giant pimple that you just want to pop all over your bathroom mirror even though you know you shouldn’t but you do anyway and then you look at that mirror with all that puss and blood and you exclaim how gross it is before you wipe it off with some toilet paper and move on.  Well, the primaries are over and it’s time to move on.

I find the “both sides do it” argument tiring and obviously false.  As I like to say, if one side throws a rock at you and the other side shoots you, sure, on the surface they’re both committing violence, but to say they’re equally bad is absurd.  Well, this time around, one side brought a nuclear missile in the form of Donald J. Trump.  It is fairly well recognized how much of a danger a man like him is to, well, everyone, but that hasn’t stopped many Republicans who were, a scant few months ago, exclaiming that danger from being all like this:

So please, cut the crap about both sides do it.  Especially now.

And to all you Never Hillary folks and especially those who were Bernie supporters, take a look at your skin.  Almost assuredly you are white.  Take a look in your pants.  More likely than not you have a penis.  Things will be fine for you even if Trump gets elected.  Congratulations.  You think now is a good time to issue a protest vote against the system?  Take a look at your black friends or your female friends or even better, your Muslim friends.  Things will assuredly be worse for them under a Trump presidency.  This is a man who has said he will ban Muslims from entering the country.  This is a man who said that we should keep a database of All Muslims living in the United States so we can keep track of them.  This is a man who thinks that women should accept sexual harassment from those who give them jobs or offer them advancement.  This man is currently the Sword of Damocles hanging over all of their heads and you would help him swing it?

Look, I’m glad you’ve had an awakening.  I’m glad that you’re finally realizing that our system is rigged.  I’m glad you’re motivated to do something about it.  But you don’t start complaining about a leaky faucet when the fucking levee is about to break.  Gary Johnson and Jill Stein are not going to win a single state.  Heck, they likely won’t even be on the ballot in all 50 states.  They can’t even get enough support to hold primaries in all 50 states.  Voting for them is grabbing your wrench and attempting to fix that leaky pipe while the rest of us are hauling sandbags attempting to prevent the country from flooding.  You owe it to all the people who don’t look like you to help them.

Stay angry, though!  Your anger is justified.  Keep that anger and filter that anger into local politics.  You can not and will never affect change at the top without first establishing a ground swell from the bottom.  Run for local office.  Support those who want to change local offices.  The changes there will rise to the top as assuredly as money rises to the 1%.

Oh, and you should also watch Michelle Obama’s speech from last night.  It was gorgeous