A Case for Voting

 National Voter Registration Day is September 15, 2026.

Let’s talk about that.

I spent some time thinking about how to explain this in a way that stays politically neutral. This was the best metaphor I could come up with. I am not saying either party is mustard or Ranch Dressing. They are simply examples. And yes, I know there are more than two political options, but in the United States the dominant choices tend to fall into two broad categories.

Imagine you are having lunch at a table with nine other people. There are ten of you total.

A waiter comes over and explains the rules.

1. The table, as a whole, must choose either mustard or Ranch Dressing.

2. Everyone gets to vote on which one the table selects.

3. You do not have to vote.

4. But even if you do not vote, once there is a winner, everyone at the table must use the winning condiment. It will be put on your food whether you like it or not.

The vote happens.

Three people vote for mustard. They all have hot dogs and see it as beneficial. Two people vote for Ranch Dressing. Five people do not vote, including you.

Mustard wins with 3 votes out of 10 possible.

The waiter immediately begins adding mustard to everyone’s food.

If you happen to have something that WORKS with mustard, this is fine. It does not hurt you. But what if you have a salad, a taco, a slice of pizza, or a bagel? Suddenly you are facing a lunch that is going to be unpleasant at best and inedible at worst.

Now, maybe you are someone who dislikes Ranch Dressing on salad. Many people do. But even if you dislike it, you can probably admit that Ranch on salad is a much easier adjustment than mustard on salad. One is annoying. The other is a crisis.

Maybe you could make mustard work. Maybe you could not. But the entire situation could have been avoided if you had voted for the option that worked better for you.

This is the point. It is easy to feel apathetic or disheartened about voting in the United States. You might not like any of the candidates. You might feel that none of them represent your values. You might feel that everyone running for office seems bought, sold, artificial, or only there for the limited joy of being politically famous.

I understand that. Truly. But none of that changes the fact that even if you do not vote, you still have to live with the decisions made by the people who get elected.

And if you are someone who hates politics in general, that is an even better reason to vote. Voting makes the people in power extremely nervous. It is one of the most effective ways to unsettle them.

TL;DR Vote. Because no one should be forced to eat mustard on their lunch bagel simply because other people decided they should.