I was listening to one of  Marc Maron’s WTF podcasts not to long ago, the one with Doug Stanhope. I really like the both of them and think they’re incredibly talented. But one passage rubbed me the wrong way. The host and his guest both agreed that voting for one politician or another doesn’t matter, that they’re all the same and nothing really changes. You can chalk it up to just two comics riffing, but I hear this bullshit too much, almost always from educated people. It’s as if they’re disappointed idealists who can’t have perfection so they don’t want to try.

Voting really matters. Not all politicians are the same. People’s lives really hang in the balance. Social Security is very important. It means a great deal to older Americans. Only some politicians would have fought for it. Invading Iraq was a decision that led to the deaths of at least tens of thousands of people. Thirty million at-risk Americans having health insurance will only occur if the Affordable Care Act survives. FEMA run correctly can save lives–or it can be dismantled as can Medicaid, Medicare and other programs.

Neither candidate in this or any other election is going to be perfect, is going to make everything alright. But the idea that everything is corrupt and nothing matters is as much an impediment to progress as any venal politician.