Every election we are demanded to dutifully vote for the lesser evil, to not do so is tantamount to treachery. People then seem to collectively delude themselves that this lesser evil isn't in fact evil at all. In an amazing twist of fate it is revealed that they were, in fact, a saint all along and so much 'real change' is risked if they aren't supported and united behind to stop the really evil candidate winning.
The lesser evil, of course, says little of substance, but they assure you they share your 'progressive values', whatever that means. People can then project all their wildest political fantasies on to the blank canvas candidate for 'hope' and 'change'.
The problem is, if you vote for someone pretending to be a transformative candidate when they evidently aren't, then funny enough, nothing actually changes as we routinely witness. It's all just an empty gesture, a pantomime, a WWE show. This circus has gone on for years.
If peoples lives don't change their anger doesn't just disappear because they hear a nice speech about inequality and minority rights from a candidate who happens to be a woman or black. This is mere snake oil and empty words without real policies that change standards of living.
So please. I beg you. Sop crying and posting emotive speeches condemning the stupidity of Trump voters (no doubt merited) and saying how ashamed you are. If you want to be angry and ashamed, be angry at an utterly bought and sold sham democracy. A system maintained and legitimised by lesser evil candidates who have sold dreams and lies without delivering change for years.
People like Bill and Hillary Clinton, even Mr 'he's cool, witty and plays basketball so must be incredible' Obama. These are people who talk about their concern for the shafted working class and disenfranchised whilst doing little for them. They operate as money endowed servants of a corporate oligopoly that has destroyed peoples lives. They pretend to stand opposed to this yet maintain an unbearably unequal economic status quo and actively enable further destructive policies for the big businesses they serve.
Are we really surprised that people vote for Trump who actually seems like a different political prospect - however appalling it may turn out to be - compared to an establishment figure who has presided over the very system people feel so utterly betrayed by?
It's worth remembering that someone who offered a genuinely different political vision to the lesser evils, Bernie Sanders, unsurprisingly polled better vs. Trump than Hillary did. In a climate where voters wanted to rebel against a system, Democrats robbed them of an outlet by choosing a candidate who was an agent of that very system. The only channel for rebellion was through Trump.
In the irony of all ironies, picking the lesser evil for so long may have unleashed the biggest evil of all.