I come from an extremely conservative state that has not voted Democrat in the past 40 years, so this argument is brought up a lot. Whether it's voting Democrat in a red state or voting for Bernie in a state where Hillary has a huge lead, the argument and the rebuttal is the same.

"What is the point of spending 2 hours standing in line to vote when the electoral votes are going to go to the Republican candidate by a 20 point margin anyways?"

It's strange, but I hear this excuse for not voting more often than I hear of someone actually voting Democrat. Funnily enough, voter turn-out (especially for primaries) is abysmally low. Even if only 30% of people supported Bernie over Hillary and only half of them showed up to vote, he would still win by a fair margin.

That alone should be reason enough to vote, but... we all know that scenario probably isn't going to happen. Most people have never voted in a primary and will not be voting in this next one either. So what's the point? Thousands of people aren't going to change their ways, so what does you getting up and voting matter?

Well, it matters a great deal.

Candidates who lose the election that manage to garner a sizable chunk of the vote still make a significant impact, even when they lose by a large margin. If Bernie Sanders gets any sizable portion of the Democratic vote, that shows to Hillary and any future Democratic candidates that there is interest in what he is saying.

Politicians are very hungry for supporters. If they think they can get even a fraction of those votes by supporting a $15 minimum wage or free college education, you're going to see a lot more mainstream candidates picking up one or two of Bernie's ideas for their platforms in the coming election cycles.

If you vote for Bernie and he loses, you're simply investing in your future candidates. If you don't vote for him at all, don't expect future candidates pandering to your interest for your support.