Thread by @dcb42, So I'm sure it won't surprise anyone who pays attention to my [...]

So I& #39;m sure it won& #39;t surprise anyone who pays attention to my politics that today& #39;s news isn& #39;t thrilling to me.

So now I have a decision to make. Vote Biden? Or Never Biden?

Let me think this through. (1/19)

See... these days I have basically become a single issue voter, and that issue is Medicare For All.

I have a disability, y& #39;see. And I don& #39;t have what you might call a ton of money. (2/19)

I was diagnosed with chronic depression... what, 25 years ago? 24? Something in that neighborhood. And I have NEVER seen a therapist. I have never been able to *afford* it.

And under a Biden administration, I don& #39;t see that changing. And honestly... (3/19)

...I don& #39;t know what that means for me. But I& #39;m pretty sure it won& #39;t be good.

I know people who are saying "I cannot survive another four years of Trump." And I *get* that. My issue is that I don& #39;t know if I& #39;m gonna survive four years of *Biden*. (4/19)

And my concern becomes, even if I make it... if I support this guy, if I give him my vote, I am sending a message to the Democrats that they don& #39;t *have* to consider what I want, or push policies that would make my life better. All they have to do is be "not Republicans." (5/19)

So that& #39;s one side of the argument. The other side is, if I take my own situation out of the equation entirely, voting for Biden will at least be harm mitigation. There are a lot of people whose lives will be, if not improved, at least made safer under Biden. (6/19)

Complicating the question is the issue of "what is your vote?"

Some people will tell you voting is your *duty*. I don& #39;t have to get into that argument, other people can and have made it for years.

I think that& #39;s bullshit. (7/19)

My vote is my POWER. It& #39;s my ability to affect change. It& #39;s my endorsement. It ain& #39;t much, but it& #39;s what I& #39;ve got. I& #39;m not rich enough to buy ads, I& #39;m not famous enough to sway opinion, but I have *this*. It& #39;s all I& #39;ve got. It& #39;s the one thing that is promised to me. (8/19)

So... how should I use it?

I& #39;m fucked either way, honestly. But...

There was a candidate that said, in effect, "Hey, Shawn& #39;s life should improve a lil& #39; bit." The Dems rejected him. There was one that said "Hey, I have a plan to improve things for people like Shawn..." (9/19)

...and even if that plan was vastly more means-tested and incrementalist than I was comfortable with, it might have helped. And the Dems rejected HER, too, and coalesced behind the guy who said "meh, nothing needs to get better for this guy. I have no sympathy at all." (10/19)

So do I *reward* that? Do I tell the Democrats "hey, it& #39;s okay that you kicked me in the metaphorical balls, have my vote anyways" like I did in 2016? Or do I tell them to go screw and vote for no one in the POTUS election?

(& #39;cause I ain& #39;t voting for Trump, fuck that)

(11/19)

I mean... if I tell them to go screw, maybe they learn from that and get better. Maybe they stop pushing the people who say nothing will fundamentally change. Maybe they start actually pushing issues that will improve the lives of people like me.

But that has a cost too. (12/19)

I don& #39;t know how to balance that. I honestly don& #39;t.

And, look, I& #39;m in MA. That matters, too. If my state doesn& #39;t go blue, the Dems have bigger problems than disgruntled Bernie supporters.

(I think there& #39;s a chance it won& #39;t, though not a huge one)

(13/19)

But this is where I& #39;m at. I haven& #39;t answered the question, yet. I& #39;m not entirely sure how to. I don& #39;t know how I& #39;ll come down to a decision.

I& #39;m not even 100% sure why I& #39;m posting this thread, except...

(14/19)

Except maybe some people who have already made up their minds about people like me see it and say "okay, maybe I shouldn& #39;t spend the next four years blaming the party& #39;s failures on Bernie supporters like I did for the last four years," that& #39;d be nice

(15/19)

And maybe some people see it and realize there IS a question here, a choice that we all have to grapple with, and just because you made your decision one way that doesn& #39;t mean that someone else making it the other way is a monster

(16/19)

Or maybe none of that happens. Odds are maybe ten people see these tweets to begin with, maybe half of those read the whole thread and think about it. Hell, even if people do see it half of them are just gonna shout about what a monster I am, that seems to be the pattern (17/19)

I dunno. I& #39;ve mostly given up on the idea of the things I do mattering in the grand scheme of things, honestly.

But I process things by writing about them, and I decided a ways back that this was one of the things I& #39;d go ahead and process in public.

(18/19)

I still don& #39;t know the answer, but it matters to me that people know that there actually *is* a question, and we& #39;re not monsters for asking it.

Maybe that won& #39;t matter either, but hell, I& #39;ve gotta try. (19/19)

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