I’m exhausted by our federal election process.

We have lots of problems locally. We don’t have public schools to which folks are excited to send their kids. We don’t have a public transport system of which anyone is proud. We can’t provide housing for our civil servants.

But I send over one-third of my income into a federal pot where it gets redistributed amongst rednecks and hicks whose elected officials deny climate change, attach women’s rights, and defend mass murderers right to mass murder. And there’s nothing I can do to change that. And so while we have problems locally, I feel as if there’s opportunity to get involved and be part of change. Federally I have no chance, and it’s tiring.

So for my vote for President in 2016 I’m going to leave all of the options empty. Here’s why:

Donald Trump is an idiot. No need to even discuss that point.

Gary Johnson has proven he doesn’t know his ass from his elbow.

Hilary Clinton will lead a compromise driven administration, and be rebuffed at every turn for at least two years until the Democratic Party’s ground game can attempt to flip the House in 2018. If they do, great, she’ll be in re-election mode already. If not, then great she’ll be out in two years for not being able to do anything.

If you’re equally frustrated then I invite you to join me in voting for no one. I would hope that if enough of us felt that way our representative in the electoral vote would equally choose to not vote for anyone in December when the formal counts are held. While I know that won’t happen, it would create an avenue for a true protest vote that our current system denies us.

Then, I’d like to take the banner for State’s Rights away from the racists spread out across Alabama, Mississippi, the Midwest, and Mountain West, and push the State of California to implement reform itself without the permission of the Federal Government. I have lost all faith in federalism. Instead, I’d prefer that:

  • California demand text books be written with a specific curriculum in mind exactly as Texas is doing, and create a center-left tidal wave in education
  • California write its own rules on immigration just like Arizona is doing, and establish immigration reform that has an amnesty option and opens the door for more highly skilled workers to come into our state
  • California adopt its own rules on gun ownership just like Florida is doing, and make responsible gun ownership a requirement and not an option

And if California won’t do it, then San Francisco should.

4 or 8 more years of compromise with people who think that the Federal government is evil while living off federally funded subsidies is idiotic. The only option I see is to vote no one at the top of my ballot, and hold the officials I’m electing locally responsible for building the future that I want for my children.

At least locally it feels like I have a chance.