I cast a protest vote on Tuesday night, but it wasn't my presidential vote. I voted for Jill Stein because she was the best of the four candidates who were mathematically capable of winning the presidency. I voted for Jill Stein because I wanted the Green Party to cross the 5% national threshold to receive federal matching funds. I voted for Kristin Combs for State Treasurer and for Jay Sweeney for Auditor General because I wanted the Green party to cross the 2% threshold needed to win party status in Pennsylvania. I am proud of those votes. Those were affirmative votes for the Green Party and the candidates.

I did cast a protest vote for Senator Pat Toomey. My vote was cast in protest against the interference of the Harrisburg and Washington Democratic Party political establishments in a primary campaign. Butt-hurt over Joe Sestak refusal to cede the 2010 nomination to Republican Arlen Specter, the party elite worked hard to recruit an alternative and ran an expensive, scorched earth campaign against Joe Sestak to ensure that they had absolute control over the nominee and to warn other Democrats that they would pay a price for defying the will of the elite. It backfired spectacularly. Perhaps Emily's List could have put the $2 million it spent on McGinty's PRIMARY campaign to better use in the general election? The DSCC chipped in another $2 million to stop Sestak. Both of these organizations will point fingers as racist white trash, the Russians, and the evil FBI director for the outcome of this election.

I am appalled at the idea of Donald Trump as my president, but I have no regrets about how I voted. The people who wield great political power have been using it to for their own self-interest, ignore the will of the people. They have put their own self-interests above those of the people they claim to represent. The people spoke, many of them by sitting out this farce of an election. Will the elites listen? Or will they plug their fingers in their ears and moan about bigots and FBI conspiracy theories?

I am genuinely worried about how Donald Trump will govern our country. He will nominate right-wing Supreme Court Justices. The ability for unions to effectively function, a woman's right to choose, the government's ability to regulate economic activity, and immigration policy are all in danger. If a President Trump embraces the Paul Ryan model of entitlement reform, we could be looking at the privatization of Medicare, and perhaps, Social Security.

But I voted my conscience. I voted for the right people, for the right reasons. I didn't have the money and the power of those who chose the candidates. They could have given the power to the people. They chose not to do that. My conscience is clear. I have no regrets.