Voter depression: For many Americans who cannot identify with either the far-right or the far-left, the call to “get out the vote” inspires this feeling.

For voting age citizens who feel caught between the ideologies of the main parties, it can be hard to find the drive to vote this election season.

Amid negative advertisements and attacks from both sides, it is easy to see why one might question the validity of any politician’s bid for election.

This feeling is cynical, yes, but it is one that many can identify with.

Advertising campaigns and non-profit organizations are flooding the airwaves with calls to vote and to have political debates, but what America needs is not voter mobilization; it is voter counseling.

Our history as a nation has been filled with great accounts of historic presidents, brilliant political maneuvers and just policies, but it also has been filled with a fair share of blunders.

The important thing however, is that none of those blunders have ended our nation. This election is not life or death, as campaign advertisements would lead readers and viewers to believe, but instead it is about each citizen casting his/her opinion on which direction he/she would rather see the nation steered.

It is tempting, as an undecided voter, to look at a single important issue and make a choice based on how the candidates relate to it.

Gay marriage, second Amendment rights, abortion issues, and other “hot topics” tend to show up in this category, where one side describes the other in as un-American of terms as possible to get supporters riled up in anger.

As a depressed voter, choosing a candidate like this is a recipe for turning voting depression into post-election remorse.

Looking back, individual candidates, and even individual appointees like Supreme Court justices, make only incremental changes on “hot-button issues” like these, and voting on these individual topics alone can lead to regret when an elected official’s overall performance does not align with those of the electorate, except for one or two issues that became the deciding points for the election.

“The lesser of two evils” is a phrase commonly used, even among decided voters to describe their candidate of choice.

And using that moniker, it certainly does make it seem that our country’s governing body is in dire condition, but the overall thought is spot on.

To pick the best candidate, one must take stock of his or her values, as well as goals for the country, and pick the candidate who best aligns with them overall.

This is the only way to make a truly informed voting decision.

For this illness of voter depression, the medicine is simple.

Take all that skepticism, mistrust and distaste and use it to make the most boring, educated and logical vote possible.

Take pleasure in knowing that voting with a skeptical, scientific mind, as opposed to a religiously fervent heart, is the biggest service that could be done for this country.

So walk from the voting booths this November with a smile with whichever “lesser of two supposed evils” you chose to vote for.

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