The election day has finally arrived. According to many, this is the most important election in US history. And honestly, for some valid reasons, this might not be an overstatement. Considering the recent appointments and upcoming vacancies in the SCOTUS, overtly articulated plans on altering democratic institutions, and a highly destabilized global political landscape, it seems like a lot are at stake. Who the next president of the United States will be can majorly impact both the near and distant future for millions, domestically and beyond.

However, there are some other people who couldn’t care less about the outcome of this election. I am not talking about the uninterested, dissociated, indifferent masses. Who I have in mind is the millions (more likely billions) of people who are trapped inside the imperialist-capitalist machine of destruction, exploitation, and dehumanization. The working class, neither here in the US nor anywhere else in the world, are given any decent option within the system to represent them and fight for their struggle — not in this election, not in any bourgeoise election. No matter which candidate wins, the result is always the same: the capitalist is the winner. After each election, regardless of who is elected, there is more profit, more financial and political incentives, more expansion, and more monopolization for the capitalist. And after each election, again, regardless of who is elected, there is more exploitation, more alienation, more degradation, more financial hardship, more anxiety, and more hopelessness for the worker, for the unemployed, and for the unhoused.

This very real, burning sensation of choicelessness is already a huge burden on those tired shoulders. What adds insult to injury is being told that you have the very important duty of voting. You are constantly told that you are responsible for the fate of the others while, in reality, you are not even in power to decide your own fate. And not only that you have to vote, but you have to vote in a certain way, like avoiding third parties and what not. So, the extortion of your will is two-fold: First, you are thrown into a system where you virtually have no power, importance, meaning, or hope. Every decision that matters is out of reach for you. Every aspect of your life is determined by people who want to suck the life out of you and fill their pockets with it. And second, you are still forced to play their game of pretend. You have to pretend that you believe in bourgeoise democracy, in the two-party system, in these meaningless elections. You have to go out of your way and invalidate your own experiences to please that pink-ass liberal social democrat. Your will has no use, no value other than to assure those warriors of democracy that the system they believe in works. You are expected to willingly reduce your will into a meaningless number, a pointless counting game.

To those who think voting is the most important thing you can do, the most powerful weapon you can have: it is not. Honestly, it’s not even in top 50. In fact, voting is not even the most democratic thing you can do, not even in bourgeoise democracies. Y’all just love the convenience of it. It’s the sweet relief of doing the right thing every four years or so, without any hassle. Plus, you get all the virtue-signaling rights that come with it. You get to tell people to vote. To me, though, the lack of enthusiasm in millions of people to do the simple act of casting a vote has more representative weight than your early votes. I would take non-excitement over being too excited about getting genocide-funding, profit-protecting, prison-and-military-feeding people elected any day of the week, and twice on the Election Day.