Indeed, this may be the most propitious time to ask ourselves this: Is the U.S. even an actual democracy? There is plenty of evidence to contend that it is not; in fact, the U.S. was never designed to be democratic, so the obsession of the country’s political leaders, past and present, to portray the nation as the “world’s greatest democracy” should provoke laughter instead of elicit pride.

We’re clearly not really a democracy either on paper or in practice. The system wasn’t designed as a democracy, our voting system often results in winners who didn’t secure majority support, policy outcomes don’t represent majority opinion, and the rich regularly get away with buying their way out of justice.

These problems will all get worse as fascists get more access to the levers of state power.

So I feel it’s important to vote for whichever candidate stands the most realistic chance of defeating the local republican. Mostly that’s going to be a democrat. The two party system is part of the problem, but keeping fascists away from power is a more pressing problem.