I'm turning 18 in September, meaning that my first election ever will force me to vote for either Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton. That’s a decision I don't want to have to make. Neither candidate was my first choice, and neither fits all or even most of my political and social values.
For the past few weeks working for The Odyssey, I have avoided topics that are divisive and political so as not to anger friends and family with different beliefs than me. With two avid Republicans as parents, these past few weeks have been filled with Fox News, intense viewing parties of the Republican National Convention, and lots of legitimate and ridiculous arguments against Hillary. At the same time, I'm going to be attending Brown University in September, where I will be surrounded by predominantly liberal minds everywhere from my dorm room to my classes.
What is the true difference between these two types of people, and why is there so much hate involved in the politics between them?
After last week's Republican Convention, I’ve finally realized that the root of this divisiveness does not lie in straightforward policies--that wouldn’t cause emotional riots and irreconcilable brawls. In reality, it stems from slight moral and cultural differences that are intensified by trash-talking TV personalities and the outgroup bias between the arbitrary political parties. Essentially, this is a cheap war, and we are all being blinded by two corrupt yet powerful political forces and the way the media portrays them.
As much as I listen to the news to attempt to diversify the media I follow, I am not as educated as I want to be on politics. The majority of Americans are not. They support one candidate because they like a few of their policies, or even worse, because they hate the other candidate. How many people have researched each and every one of every candidate's policies? And if they have, how biased have their resources been? The lack of clear information causing an uneducated group of voters is the first problem making this election into a mudslinging contest. Take the RNC, for example. Over half of the speeches didn’t even mention Trump, they just bashed Hillary. The other half talked about Trump in vague terms, calling him “decisive,” “powerful,” and a “businessman,” over and over and over again. The one or two policies that Pence mentioned about immigration reform and foreign relations were even challenged by Trump himself. It is clear that even he doesn’t know what he’s doing, so how can anyone be an adamant supporter of him?
As you are watching this week’s Democratic National Convention, expect to see a lot more of this. I could be wrong, but at this point I have no expectations from either side to hear actual arguments without bashing the personalities of the other candidate, or important government figures lying to our impressionable faces all in the name of votes.
It would take the efforts of every person in this election, from the candidates to campaign managers to the media to voters, to make this less like a petty war and more like an objective election. Our actual futures depend on who we elect, so all I can say is this: be logical, listen to the news with a grain of salt, follow your own morals, and don’t vote for someone because you “hate him/her less."
