I'm unexpectedly sadder than I thought I would be today about Hillary Clinton winning the Democratic party nomination and Bernie Sanders losing. When you no longer believe in something, there's a void. When I started questioning whether god(s) existed, i spent the next 3 years doing heavy research and, on the other side, came out quite happy with my decision. In the case of the Democratic party, I've been questioning for years but still falling into the "Lesser of Two Evils" trap. The difference is that what happened in this election cycle was really the last straw.

Because I"ve always voted for Democrats, deciding that I no longer want to participate is both a happy occurrence as well as one in which I wonder how I can participate in elections as an American in fhe future. I have always believed that narrowing the options for who one can vote for by touting only two parties, and preventing others from even being able to debate before the public is unfair. There is nothing in the constitution that mandates only two parties, but the political system is set up such that if you aren't part of one of the other, your participation is marginalized. 

In other words, most years I have been planted in front of the television set, lapping up each politician that stood on the podium, and nodding my head with the sentiments. Or, I have gone to Democratic party events, including locally. Doing so has been a ritual of sorts, and the issue right now is, what takes its place? 

Certainly not Hillary Clinton. I have long been disgusted with her, and couldn't understand, in the 2008 election, why anyone would want to vote for her. I voted for President Obama in 2008 and 2012. Although there are some that believed it was *her turn*, perhaps in exchange for all the money greasing that has gone on, I never did, and her being a woman wasn't a selling point. (Especially not when Madeline Albright said there was a special place in hell for women that didn't vote for other women. Please). One thing that shocked me was being lumped in with being a *Bernie Bro* , me, a female, simply because I wasn't going to vote for the candidate that the DNC wanted to win. 

I like Jill Stein, can't say I agree with her on everything, at least not as much as I agreed with Bernie Sanders, but I felt inspired by Sanders. I always have, I've followed him for a long time outside of his presidential run. Be default, because more of her positions are in sync with me, I will vote for her. I don't feel inclined,however, to join the Green Party. At this juncture, I"m through with party politics and want to vote for a candidate only, regardless of party, and in November.