Charlie Stross: “I don’t get to vote; I just get to live in a world where the winner’s policies defines a whole bunch of parameters for my life. No, I’m not bitter or anything …”
If it’s any consolation, I do get to vote, but because I live in California (what, the world’s sixth biggest economy?), my vote doesn’t count. The candidates were selected by a small group of people in a small economy in a northeastern state. The nominees didn’t visit this state with the sixth largest economy, nor pander to it, nor run any election ads in it.
Small blessing, I suppose.
But like you, the winner (who was not in any way, shape, or form selected or influenced by the state I live in) defines a whole bunch of parameters for my life. The fact that I, nor anyone else in this state, had any effect on his/her candidacy or eventual election seems to obviate the fact that I pulled a lever (actually, filled in a bubble completely with a number 2 pencil, or close enough) for or against had no effect on his/her election.
And the same is true for many of the other most populous and economically viable states in the US: CA, WA, NY, IL, OR.