I’m an Expat. Born in New York, I was raised between London and America and after much water under the bridge, I am now raising two children and living in East Sussex. 

I am bi-racial. My maternal grandmother and grandfather emigrated from Yugoslavia and Scandinavia respectively; my paternal great-grandfather was born into slavery. My mother stormed the steps of the Capitol

building protesting the Vietnam War; my Aunts marched on Selma. At eight years old, I stood outside a local liquor store asking patrons to support the United Farmworkers by not buying Gallo wine.

As an adult, I worked with the Clinic Defence Alliance to keep abortion legal and accessible. My mother and I were arrested together after we and others shut down the Los Angeles Federal Building in protest

of the first Gulf War.

I have been fully engaged in all US elections and this is no exception. From the outset I was a Bernie Sanders supporter. I still am. As the Occupy Movement created the opportunity for ‘Democratic Socialism’

to return to the American lexicon and Sanders stepped onto the world stage, I experienced a pride in my country I hadn’t felt in years.

But Sanders lost. The primaries were rigged. I struggled to find a way to support Clinton, who sent a message to a generation of Millennials that their votes, voices and donations did not matter. She had called young black children ‘Super-Predators’ and after living a life of ‘public service’ had amassed a net worth of $45 million, but was unwilling to support a $15 wage. Her corporatist and profiteering ways are antithetical to everything I believe in, but it would be a cold day in hell before I could vote for Trump.

My friends said I had no choice. Vote for Clinton or it would be MY fault when we ended up with President Trump; the old ‘lesser of two evils’ argument. But this argument is all based in fear. Why? Because

it’s all she’s got. All of Clinton’s ‘miss-steps’ are to be swept under the rug and her only appeal is that she’s not Trump.

 Trump is a buffoon. And that is the nicest thing I can say about this misogynistic, narrow-minded, ‘presidential’ candidate. But am I frightened by him? Embarrassed is probably more accurate. I see Trump as

a symptom. His angry, hate-filled supporters won’t be going away whether he wins or loses. This kind of hatred is endemic in the United States. It’s been around for years.

 I’m not sure what happens if Trump is elected, but I do know this: he’s not supported by the elite in his party. Even the Bush family have put their weight behind Clinton. The Grand Old Party (Republican party) want control and they cannot control Trump. But Clinton has support and her platform is clear: she’s pro-fracking, pro-capital punishment, pro-TPP, pro-corporation and pro-war. Clinton will perpetuate the hatred and anger because she will be responsible for less jobs, a disappearing middle class and failing education.

What’s most frightening is Clinton’s track record: she has been instrumental in the devastation throughout the middle east and Latin America, and now we’re facing World War Three; Clinton wants to impose a no-fly zone

on a nation where Russia is conducting aerial military operations. That’s the stated agenda of a candidate who maintains “both a public position and a private position” on policy; to shoot down the military planes of a nuclear superpower. I can’t even imagine what her private position might be.

And Trump’s position is all public. He is not a consummate politician, he wouldn’t know what an agenda was if it bit him in the ass, and he has no qualifications for becoming president of the United States. What does that mean? It means he won’t be there long. 

Trump’s treatment of women is heinous, as is Bill’s. I loathe the muckraking, the stripping down to the most sensational and irrelevant of issues to generate media profit. George Soros is right when he says Trump may win the popular vote, but Clinton will become President, it’s already been decided.

On November 8 I will not vote based on fear. The lesser of the evils is still evil. I will vote for Dr Jill Stein who has the moral fibre to lead our country and keep us out of World War Three. If The Green

Party wins 5 per cent of the vote, it will receive federal funding and will be on the ballot in all fifty states. Stein may not win, there is too much fear surrounding this election; however, it is time to end the two party system. And if an election has to be lost in order to do so, so be it. 

  • Victoria Cadogan-Rawlinson is a screenwriter who works in London as a co-director at Stranger Than Fiction Productions