From The Mind of Merc - Voting

Sometimes I find my mind wandering over various eclectic topics and occasionally I am inspired to write some of them down. Today I was thinking about the importance of using your right to vote.

(No - this is not going to be a Suffragist diatribe and yes - it's still on this month's theme of the tangerine manbaby in Washington.)

One of the biggest current concerns I think is the possibility of thinking that the prejudiced, discrimatory, and, in some cases, frankly disgusting actions and executive orders coming out of the White House are at the wish and approval of the majority of Americans as, obviously, the President is voted in by the majority.

This is wrong on 2 key points:

1) Donald Trump did not win the popular vote - he got in because of the first-past-the-post electoral college system they have in the US 

2) The majority of US citizens do not agree with his policies, views or actions

What Donald Trump's presidency proves is what happens WHEN THE MAJORITY DON'T VOTE.

America is currently discovering to its cost that assuming an unsavoury, unpleasant candidate will not get in purely because of their unfavourable characteristics will always be wrong as minorities (e.g. racists) always vote. So, if you don't bother, your inaction constitutes enabling behaviour as you're just holding the door open for the minorities to let their candidate (who shouldn't even be considered) waltz right on in.

But, as shown by the graphic above, that does not mean his viewpoint is preferred and it does not mean his actions are universally condoned so it is likewise incorrect and detrimental to tar all Americans with the same brush.

It is important to remember the majority of Americans are as appalled by us at the circus of horrors currently being enacted by the POTUS and his cronies and that they may be louder but they are not stronger so log as we do not let them or allow them to be.