The first time I really understood voting and elections was in elementary school. It was Bush vs. Dukakis in 1988. At that age I obviously didn’t know anything about politics. When they asked us to fill out pretend ballots, I remember choosing Bush just because it was funny that a person had the same name as a plant. That year, and many years thereafter, my mother took me to vote. I loved it because we used mechanical lever voting machines. That brief moment in the voting booth brought me the same joy as using a computer. Obviously my mother was trying to instill in me the importance of voting. She once told me a story that my grandmother took her to hear Eleanor Roosevelt speak, so this goes back at least a few generations.

Despite knowing the importance of voting itself, I did not begin to understand American politics until I was nearly in college. Even then I didn’t have things fully straightened out until several years after graduation. While I had some excellent social studies and history teachers, they only taught historical facts. Nobody ever taught us the policy differences between Democracts and Republicans. I think they were scared that parents might accuse them of indoctrinating their children. Looking back now, it is so obvious that some of my teachers were straight up hippies and others not so much.

Honestly, it’s a good thing that I didn’t know anything. One of my high school teachers, who I remember being a good teacher, had a large photo of Strom Thurmond at the front of the class. She was a big fan. At the time all I understood was that he was a long-sitting US Senator who did a big old heroic fillibuster. What wasn’t taught was that he was a racist piece of shit who was fillibustering the Civil Rights Act. I’ll leave it to the reader’s imagination what would have happened in that classroom had I been more knowledgable.

Despite the fact I’m pretty sure my whole family has always voted for Democrats, it was rarely discussed. I was not influenced in any way as to whom I should be voting for. As a result, my rebellious and anti-authoritarian nature won out. I believed the two big parties were just two sides of the same corruption, and I was a fully independent thinker. Regardless of their policies I thought characters like Ross Perot and Ralph Nader were cool just because they were a middle finger to the system. I see a lot of people, especially young men, voting with this attitude. These are the people who supported Bernie and also Trump. I feel I understand them because I once was them. Sadly, this attitude has caused more harm than good to our society because most of the anti-establishment candidates of late are on the far-right.

In college I was exposed to more political ideas. I was heavily influenced by the libertarianism of the tech and atheist communities online. The principles of freedom and rationalism were very appealing to me. While libertarianism is, correctly, viewed as a right-wing ideology, I was still voting for Democrats every single time. Considering the issues that were top of mind for me in those days, it was a no-brainer. I wanted to stop global warming. I wanted peace, not war. I believed in equality and freedom for all people, and was very upset by post-9/11 Islamophobia. The Republicans wanted to impose conservative Christian policies and eliminate civil liberties with things like the Patriot Act. To me that seemed to be the opposite of libertarian, and as an atheist Jew, Christian values could not win my vote.

After graduation I registered as independent in New York. I think in 2006 I voted for Eliot Spitzer on the line of the now defunct Independence Party. The anti-establishment feelings remained, but any chance that I might ever change my vote was permanently obliterated by the Tea Party movement. They were a group of racist nutjob conspiracy theorists. Regardless of their ideology, they obviously lacked a firm grasp of reality. This was in no way compatible with my rationalist leanings at the time. If those people are Republicans, then it was obvious that I was a Democrat.

Upon moving from upstate down to New York City proper, I learned that there were many more elections in the big city. I also learned that the general elections are mostly ceremonial. Democrats almost always win. For both ideological and pragmatic reasons I registered for the first time not as independent, but as a Democrat. I regret not doing that sooner because it allows me to vote at least twice in most years. As of now I have voted in every general, primary, and special election since some time when Bloomberg was still our mayor. I vote so hard I have a voting pin from the board of elections instead of a sticker.

I know a lot of people out there might not be as excited to vote as I am. Perhaps they feel their vote does not matter. They may be right, especially if they are just looking at a single election. But from where I am sitting, I feel like my excessive voting has actually worked. When I first moved here, all my representatives were products of the so-called Democratic party machine. There wasn’t much opposition, even during the primaries. Bit by bit they were defeated. I am now represented by the furthest left-leaning group of politicians perhaps anywhere at any time in US history.

I am currently represented by members of the DSA (Democratic Socialists of America) in the NY City Council, NYC Mayor’s Office, NY State Assembly, NY State Senate, and US House of Representatives. Before becoming Mayor, Zohran was our state assembly member. Everyone else who represents me in government is a regular Democrat, excepting of course the president and vice president. Obviously my vote did not do this alone. My neighbors voted as well. But that doesn’t mean my vote is meaningless. We were all a team pulling on the rope together.

To anyone reading this who does not vote in every election, please join the team and help pull our society in the right direction. Unlike my parents and teachers, I’m going to tell it to you straight. In the USA you should vote for the Democrats. They are far from perfect, because nobody is perfect, but Republicans are literally evil. They want to harm people on purpose. If you don’t believe that, just look at what ICE has been up to. This could all have been avoided if everyone else voted like my neighbors and I. And hey. Worst case if a vote turns out to be meaningless, it’s still fun to fill out the scantron sheet.