Similar to the quote about how youth is wasted on the young. Please don't waste either your youth or your vote.
Case in point, the saga of Obamacare (the Affordable Care Act). The Affordable Care Act (ACA) approval graph above gives me “democracy PTSD”.
The ACA legislation was passed into law in March 2010 at a time when the US House of Representatives and the US Senate both, had Democratic majorities, and Barack Obama was President.
The House majority subsequently turned Republican in November 2012. The ACA approval graph from another source shows that the ACA's ratings turned steadily negative around then. From January 2013 to November 2016, Republicans in Congress voted on bills to repeal or de-fund part or all of the ACA at least 70 times.
In short, unless one was in a coma during those years, there could be no doubt or ambiguity in the informed minds of the voting and non-voting public that Republicans were determined to repeal the ACA. Meanwhile, the ACA's approval graphs show that at least until voting day 2016, the ACA had negative approval ratings.
Again, Republicans not just tried to repeal the ACA 70 times, in 2016 they and President Trump explicitly campaigned on the promise of repealing the ACA as soon as they were voted into office.
In November 2016, American voters cast their votes in favor of a Republican House majority, a Republican Senate majority and a Republican President. In short, American voters put into office the political party and Presidential candidate who had explicitly campaigned on the repeal of the ACA.
It would be a logical conclusion from the 2016 election results and the ACA approval graph taken together that a majority of Americans wanted the ACA repealed. One could very credibly term the 2016 election results as a democratic mandate to repeal the ACA.
But no, AFTER the 2016 election which got ACA “repealers” into office wholesale, suddenly the ACA's approval ratings turned positive.
More people now wanted the ACA to stay as law and fewer people wanted the ACA repealed. There were widespread mobilizations, large demonstrations and fervent appeals to elected representatives to vote to save the ACA. Heart rending stories were related in town hall meetings seeking to change minds of the very same Republican Congress members and Senators who had campaigned on the ACA repeal promise, AFTER THEY WERE VOTED INTO OFFICE.
Dear American voters and respondents to approval polls on ACA, please note that the time to save something a majority approved of, such as the ACA, was BEFORE OR DURING the 2016 election, not AFTER you voted into office, people who were opposed to it.
In 2016, what you collectively did was vote for people who campaigned to repeal the ACA and then try to change their minds after voting for them.
That's not how elections work. Politicians campaign on promises to voters and donors and when they win the election, they consider their victory to be a mandate to fulfill the promises they campaigned on, NOT GO BACK ON THEM (especially if those promises were made to their donors also).
Votes have consequences so accept that consequences will follow your vote. If you don't vote, then accept the consequences of not voting, despite all your heartfelt feelings to the contrary after the results come out.
So, in 2020, here’s a general appeal on behalf of the universe and abstract democracy, to all voters. PLEASE vote for people who will uphold what you want and DO NOT vote for people who will oppose what you want.
Your strong feelings on any issue (health care, rule of law, climate change, corruption, education, the environment, the economy, Social Security, Medicare, social programs) after the election will do squat after you vote for people who will oppose what you want on these issues.
The time to demand that politicians show themselves to be capable and willing to support what you support and oppose what you oppose IS BEFORE AND DURING THE ELECTION. After the election, it is too late.
Lastly, maybe don’t throw away your vote on feelings or dissatisfaction about styles — namely about how one candidate is too bossy, shrill, unlikable, male, female, loud or Democratic. If you do, then maybe do not demand to be released from the consequences of the other guy's victory after the election is over.