Do votes matter...?
A somewhat complicated question with a complicated answer, at least on the national and to some degree the state level.
Ever since I have been old enough to vote and follow politics to some degree, and the older I have gotten, I have realized that with each passing election, no candidate from either party represents enough of my core values to make me feel good about voting for them. Which is why I've voted third party for all but two major elections. In recent years I've learned that due to brainwashing, media bias, etc the culture of our nation is basically rigged against any third party candidate winning. With the matter of the electoral college, should both canidates enter into a tie vote, the congress decides the next president. If that should happen did our vote matter?
Consider the Gore/Bush campaign where Gore won the popular vote, yet Bush was our next president. That was a very tight vote, separated by a mere
543,893 voters, about the size of a medium city with Al Gore the popular victor. Did those votes matter? To me, it seems that logically those half a million voters could have just stayed home and Bush would have won anyway.
I'm of the opinion that national campaign votes matter to the extent that they take the political pulse of the U.S. as a nation, but serve no real purpose in electing a leader. Our leaders are hand picked long before the enter the campaign trail. Although I will admit, Trump has gone against the grain. I believe Trump genuinely wants what he believes is "best" for our nation. That being said, I don't think he knows what he's doing. He's used to getting his way, and not compromising. That's fine and dandy for a big time businessman, but not for an elected leader of a free state where the rights and privileges of
ALL have to be protected, not just those in the majority. That's the true meaning behind our
republic. While his heart may be in the right place, he'll have us in a Nuclear WWIII within a year. Between the two, Clinton is probably the safer bet, just don't expect her to do much for our demographic (that being men). She'll basically be Obama's third term. I expect healthcare will continue to crumble as from the debate she seems to be perfectly fine with "Obamacare" and our "employer based - for profit system" *SPIT* She'll silence the race wars and focus our attention on the issues of the next four years. I expect a raise in minimum wage, I expect a big push for "women's advantage" as the pendulum will take a good hard swing towards misandrist ideals, and it will probably suck to be a poor to low middle class man during her rein. If you've ever had homosexual thoughts, the next four years might be a good time to experiment if she wins. Avoid women. It might help "men in skirts" but only for the sake of promoting the feminist and possibly the LGBT agenda. Sorry Carl, better luck next go round...
Regarding the supreme court appointees. I don't want Republican justices, I don't want Democratic justices. I want justices that rule based on the letter of the constitution of our nation- point blank. I find it disgraceful that we have a partisan high court. That being said, I have an interest in justices that are more liberal minded, though I disagree with the notion on principle, it would be better than mandatory Protestantism imposed on everyone. Although I will admit that Trump may surprise us yet.
So once we weigh the historically proven fact that the popular vote doesn't matter, and when we consider how rigged our two party system is and the media that brainwashes the masses into thinking there is no other choice, then couple that with the issue that there really isn't anyone worth voting for this go round, than I am left to conclude that as far as this presidential election goes... no,
It doesn't matter. But that doesn't mean I'm not going to vote. Hell I might even just go ahead and give one of the two circus masters my vote, but I won't think for a second that it would have made a bit of difference. Voting literally takes about 10 minutes by the time you stand in line and what not... and it gives me a bonafide license to complain for the next four years about everything. So yeah... I'll do it.
Congressional votes to me matter more. The only downside is they only play one very small part of the over all scheme of things on capital hill. Unfortunately, Morgan Griffith has this district completely tied up. The fact that he's a Salemite (a derogatory term for residents of Salem VA... Salem people are snooty.. nobody likes them) doesn't seem to sway the red voters of the coal fields. They view anyone bearing the "D" label as a direct threat on their quality of life. Rich Boucher was the exception, and held the post for about three decades. He, however was Abingdon born and raised and was a coal field "good old boy", in addition to a strong incumbent. Not even a republican could beat Boucher, and the only reason Griffith got it was because Boucher retired and didn't run again. There is a little bit of controversy there as Salem VA wasn't in district 9 until they redrew the lines. Those lines weren't redrawn until after the election I believe, resulting in a bit of a snafu. He swooped in and swindled the seat, and now we can't get rid of him....

Salem VA is NOT Virginia coal country, and is not "real" southwest VA. I don't care what wikipedia says.
But he did shake my hand once at the Pulaski polling station a few years ago. So that was nice. It proves to me that while we may not agree on everything, but somewhere in there lives a human being with a warm pulse.
Outside of that there is Virginia's Governor race, which I believe is a smaller version of the presidential race, just a smaller elite (state level) choosing those people. And we've had some interesting Governors! Virginia is known for some weird laws, and our Governors don't disappoint. From shutting down the state government, our rest stops, etc, to 2 billion dollars just suddenly "showing up" somewhere. Combined with the ethics issues, and conspiracies, they keep our newspapers full of content. Never a dull moment in Richmond.. no sir. The general assembly elections are a little more down home. Although I was disappointed to see Carrico running unopposed last election. I have followed some of his policy in the paper up until that point... I was NOT impressed. That man would have us burning witches again if we'd let him. And as far as any minority interest... LGBT... women, immigration, blacks... etc, FORGET IT. He's down home white Protestant, Republican, holier than thou, it's "Gods way or the highway" kind of man, makes Ted Cruz look like a Satanist. Total Kim Davis and Mike Huckabee material. My mouth soured with the idea of voting for that ass, and I gladly wrote someone in. They'll probably name a highway after him, and I'll be sure to deface the road marker and piss on it at every opportunity.
Then we move a notch inward to the county B.O.S. (board of supervisors), Sheriff, County Clerk, Commissioner of the Revenue. The people don't elect judges in Virginia. I believe the General Assembly elects them. I actually... kind of agree with that. By having our judges elected at the blanket state level by elected representatives, I believe it has helped the state from becoming a "Boss Hog" type of place locally. The last Sheriffs race was pretty hot, and there was a lot of big law enforcement issues on the table. The big issue was Sheriff Newman engaging in a (legal) program offered by the state to allow for Deputies to run radar on the interstate (I81) on overtime and Sheriffs office gets to keep the money raised from the tickets. Newman campaigned that this helped fund the department and reduce the amount of money needed from the county budget to offer better law enforcement protections. His opponent Andis, campaigned on the premise of less radar to fund the department (he was a hit with motorist and those who have a lead foot), and that all sounds fine and well, but I read the fine print in the paper, he plans to make up for that by means of civil forfeiture! WOAH! PUT ON THE BRAKES! Moon Shadow DON'T DO CIVIL FORFEITURE! The very notion of it makes my blood curdle. I'll save my feelings on civil forfeiture for another thread, but suffice it to say... I voted for Newman. And Newman won!
We then get down to the local city/town elections. And since I live just 20 feet outside of the town limit, I have no vote in Damascus town elections. But that's okay... I also am not subject to Damascus town taxes... which are the highest in Washington county.

But if I lived in town, you betcha I'd be there voting for the leaders of the little 800 person town.
I believe local elections matter most!
Oh.... and yes I plan to vote in a skirt... a very feminine one. And I hope there are LOTS of Republican cheerleaders standing around when I do!
