Jesse Gillis is a resident of Pembroke and a member of Veterans For Peace. 

I was in high school during the early years of our criminal invasion and occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan. I had just joined the military when the 2008 market crashed and the too-big-to-jail banks were bailed out.

Why vote? Regardless of who obtains the office, the thugs in business suits enrich themselves with impunity. Some believe voting the right hero in would fix our problems. This sentiment that only if the right party gets in power, controlling the executive or legislature, or both, will save us does not address how our elected officials are flagrantly enriching themselves and their donor class at our expense. This is a racket.

A growing percentage of the public feels the economic disenfranchisement and sees the unchecked corruption. This erodes public confidence, deters agency of the voters, polarizes the population all the while our democracy fails as we vote in a fascist. This has been decades in the making.

President Trump and his goons will push beyond their constitutional limits. This is not new. This encroachment of the executive branch has been an ongoing process. Trump’s position has been gifted to him from his predecessors and the legislature. They have been doing their part to building a throne fit for the corporate empire.

To come into power, these figure heads make political pacts with oligarchs, corporations, special interest groups and other powerful, moneyed interests. The same goes for our Congress, who are bought and paid through legalized bribery. This is not new. Insider trading, conflicts of interests, revolving doors between the public and private sector are all acceptable ways to grossly enhance one’s wealth. They are narcissists, sociopaths and moral cowards. Trump only puts an ugly face on this racket. They are all complicit.

Trump will attempt to deliver over more state assets and services for privatization because these gifts will beget gifts in return. They are government handouts for the wealthy as they use the state to enrich themselves. This is not new. They move jobs overseas to exploit slave labor, pay little to none in taxes, acquire subsidies to gain immense wealth, destroy unions, create monopolies, fuel tensions to create crisis overseas and profit off of foreign wars, perform insider trading, push overpriced drugs and medical care, fund terrorists, privatize prison and water supply and destroy our environment. This is the corporate fascism that has given rise to figure heads like Trump.

Even if he were impeached — and certainly when his term runs up — another creature will replace him and continue this trend. These grifters rise, feeding on the despair, stoking nativist fears and externalizing the worst in us onto the most marginalized in society. Without improving the economic conditions of our neighbors, our communities and our society deteriorate. A growing population of Americans may not perceive owning a home, starting a family, or acquiring a meaningful job with good pay. We are pushed towards the extremes to resolve it. We are being robbed and told our enemy is our neighbor.

Our legislature is complicit. They must be held accountable. They do not deserve your vote. Be active, find common ground with your neighbors. Organize. Vote your conscience. Take responsibility for where our society is going. We cannot be passive and disengage. Voting away your agency to a candidate to take charge is to invite authoritarians to continue the corruption and erasure of our civil liberties.

Be the good you wish to see.