Look, Pennsylvanians know a thing or two about election a representative, that representative having a personality changing life event, and then that representative going on to fix absolutely nothing and in fact make things measurably worse.

But even still they did the math, calculated the risk:reward of their vote, held their nose and cast their ballots.

Just as I have for every election my whole life.

You want real, meaningful change? Support progressive candidates at the local level who will be in a position to get rid of first past the post voting. The two party system that enables the Democrats’ laziness is a direct, organic result of FPTP. Thankfully how voting works is legislated at the local level, meaning if we can get some form of Rank Choice then suddenly Democrats are going to have to care A LOT because it’ll be easier to vote them out without simultaneously voting a Republican in.

But until we can fix the source of the problem (FPTP) damage mitigation will continue to be the name of the game, and it’ll be a game we will eventually, inevitably lose.

We CAN fix it, but we need less cynicism* and apathy.

*I didn’t say “no cynicism” that’d be terrible, I don’t think I could get through the day without a cup or two… But everything in moderation, ya know?