If all reports are correct, the latest numbers I’ve heard is that 139 million voters, only 60.2 percent of the eligible voters, voted in the 2016 Presidential Election. Estimated eligible voters total around 231 million people nationwide with only 27.3 percent voting for Donald Trump and 28.5 percent voting for Hillary Clinton.
Irrespective of your political views, that fact should be chilling. It should scare you to death, unless you want radical extremists to rule this country. I look at the Middle East and I see that a lack of free democratic elections, free from either political or religious extremism, has led to the rise of violent extremists who perpetually suppress democracy, civil liberty and human rights. Here in the United States, I think it’s safe to say we’re heading down that road.
Trump’s Voters appear to be flanked by White Supremacists, Fascists and Voters who want this country to only represent and enforce their Conservative views and lifestyle choices. 
Clinton’s Voters, I admit I reluctantly voted for Clinton, appear to be women and men who had decided to vote for a Woman no matter what, people afraid of Trump (me),
and hard-line leftist Democrats with no clear message. These people voted for their own personal interests over the interest of the nation. 
I’m guilty too.
Consider that 39.8 percent of the eligible voters didn’t vote in 2016. That’s 92 Million people who chose not to vote! Who are these people who don’t think it matters if they vote or note? Do they have an ideology? Are they dispassionate about their lives or the lives of their family and friends? I admit to having a hard time with note voting in the Presidential elections. However, I’m just as guilty during the mid-terms. I’ve not voted in most mid-terms. I’d never considered my Progressive vote having any impact on Texas politics. Now I’m thinking differently. I met someone and voted for her in her run for Texas State Representative in the general election. She didn’t win, and that’s OK. Elizabeth Tarrant has inspired me to out myself as a Progressive Social Democrat. She’s convinced me that I might well have a voice that should be heard. To that end, it’s imperative that I speak out about voting and the amount of ambivalence and apathy in this country.
If the only people who vote are people with the most extreme political and social views, then we will devolve further into a nation of extremism. The United States is on the precipice of being no better off than the Middle East and eventually there will be no democracy left to vote for.
Our new President seems to be promoting this extremism on a daily basis. He pushes the boundaries of descent behavior on a daily basis. He advocates violence at his rallies and in the WWE
video he posted of himself attacking the CNN logo superimposed on Vince McMahon’s face. The 92 million eligible voters who stayed home could have made a difference, not just in this election, but in every election we’ve had for at least the last 40 years and those in the future. That’s a lot of people who could have voted for a single candidate and won by a landslide. We now have a majority of American Citizens who seem to not believe in democracy, or at the least they don’t trust it. It’s my opinion that they are the reason they don’t trust it. Again, I point out that all of the non-voters could have elected their candidate in a landslide victor with over 27 million votes. Their apathy isn’t supported by a claim of having no power, they are the most powerful segment of the U.S. electorate, if they chose to participate. I’d suggest they need to step up and take part in the process. America is becoming an international joke on Donald J. Trump’s watch.
