I do vote in political elections, even if it amounts to casting ballots in Babylon.

UPDATE: I am very nearly as bad an editor, as I am a writer. I deleted a duplicate phrase and simplified the remaining sentence.

I do vote in political elections. But I feel as though here, in the United States, our entire political apparatus is now completely unhinged.

Election officials from both the Democratic and Republican political parties have (almost universally) reported that there is no evidence of wide-spread voter fraud. That hasn’t stopped political pundits from claiming that elections have been “rigged”.

If we no longer even believe in our own political and electoral systems, then I have to wonder what is even the point in pretending anymore?

Still, I continue to participate in our republic because I believe in what it aspired to be, even if we’re at a point in history where our political discourse is less than respectable and our electoral process is less than reliable.