It’s a completely unreasonable question to ask. There are two decidedly opposing camps in the diatribacious debate.
Camp Zero holds that in any contest or competition with competing sides that your vote has only the net weight of the winning side. And that conversely any vote cast for the losing side has a negative affect not only on your own personal vote, but on the whole of the vote population.
Camp Hero holds that regardless of contesting or competing or convulsing your vote has a double power regardless of which side you vote on. And that not only does your vote count for what you voted for irregardless of which side actually wins the vote, but it also counts double because you voted for what you want and made a statement.
So how much is your vote worth? Does your single, solitary vote get drowned in the miasma of millions of votes? Does your vote exist on a singular plane, shining in transcendent glory? Does your vote even count if you voted for the losing side? Or does your vote count because you voted it? Does your vote count more when it’s voted in order to make sure one side wins or when it is voted in support of your ideals and beliefs even if it is cast for the losing side? In short, which is more important for YOUR personal vote:
- That it is cast for the eventual winner?
- Or that it is cast for who/what you want as the winner?
Of course I am reflecting on our current election cycle and the existential direction choice we are collectively faced with at this juncture. But I have spent the majority of my life fighting with every fiber of my being the idea that our individual votes only count if they are cast for the winning side or for the lesser of two evils. I have suffered the consequences and costs of voting with my dollars, my actions and my life. I do not subscribe to the idea that your vote is merely a strategic move and vote AGAINST what you want in order to avoid what you don’t want. In fact I am convinced that voting for what you don’t want less, in order to not get what you don’t want more, is a losing strategy. Not because it doesn’t work. it very well may work supremely well, but I am convinced it devalues your vote to less than zero. If you don’t vote for what you want, but instead vote to avoid what you don’t want, what are you actually voting for. It is not enough to want change, improvement, and goodness in the world. You have to actually go out and vote for it on a daily basis. Every action, every thought, every word, every dollar and every vote is your unique opportunity to make a massive difference in the world.
