Choosing a presidential candidate this election is equivalent to deciding which type of knife you want to stab into your eyeball. As South Park creators so eloquently put it, we’re choosing between a “Big Douche and a Turd Sandwich”.

In Utah, where most of our representatives lean white and right, it’s frustrating to see the same type of people elected to office over and over and over and over . . .

But I vote anyway. Every election. Every time.

More than 100 years ago, suffragettes fought for my right to vote. They were labeled, imprisoned and institutionalized. If I believe in any kind of equality, I need to cast my ballot, if only to not kick those great women in the teeth.

Here’s why I vote:

My vote matters. Okay, maybe not for the presidential race which is determined by the electoral college, a college that should definitely lose its accreditation and football team. But local races affect me. Changes come through local government. Rare, I know, but it happens.

I can complain. If you don’t cast a ballot, you can’t complain about the government. Period.

Because free stickers!!

Not voting is a vote. Apathy created the situation we’re in today. When voters stayed home during the 2010 mid-term election, the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party was allowed to evolve into a thing.

The entire world is watching. The global community is watching the U.S. to see how we handle this shit-storm of an election–and to see if we’re going to screw up the galaxy forever. If other countries could vote in our presidential election, they would turn out in droves.

My grandkids. A couple of years ago, my grandson asked me if I had voted. I gave him a resounding, “Hell, yes!” (Disclaimer: Saying “hell” is not child abuse. Get your knickers unwadded.) An entire generation is watching us, witnessing either our dedication or apathy to democracy. They will respond accordingly when they’re old enough to vote.