It is no secret that this year is an election year. As sad as this year has been with all the people we lost (RIP Gene Wilder, Alan Rickman, Christina Grimme, among other tragic losses), the year is coming to a close and we have to deal with a presidential election. And not just any election- a crazy, warped election that doesn’t make sense: The Election from Hell.
Before I dive into my own opinion of this election (which will become more than clear to you throughout this article), let’s have a crash course of important past elections. Obviously, the first election ever is pretty important- it set almost every precedent future generations would need to continue the tradition (except for term limits, which we’ll see later). The next election determined that each candidate should be of different parties (against Washington’s wishes). The election of 1804 narrowed down the choices of president to only two people, from opposing parties. The elections during the 1840s were the first to see a national issue (slavery) be a part of the campaigns. This is not to say that elections before this didn’t deal with issues, but slavery was such a hot topic (enough to cause a war over) that it worked its way up the societal ladder to affect the presidential elections. Of course, we know that the election of 1860 was when Lincoln shined and shut the door on Slavery’s face shortly after. Flash forward to the 1900s, and 1951 was when the 22nd amendment was ratified, making it so a president can only run for 2 terms (after FDR was president for an insanely long presidency). And just to think that a president can only be president for 8 years’ max has only been official for 65 years- which looking at the big picture is not that long of a time. And again, flash forward to 2008 and America saw its first person of color run for the presidency and win. No matter anyone’s affiliations- this accomplishment is amazing for America’s history.
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And now, we’re in 2016. The year of sh*tty memes, selfie sticks, more prejudices than ever, violence, and oversensitivity; the world where losing a gorilla named Harambe has more of an effect on society than the near death of the Great Barrier Reef. The society where every single opinion has to be heard and validated, because we all careso much about making sure people know they’re wrong. Where the Trump supporters see him as doing no wrong and the Clinton supports blindly post #imwithher despite all her wrongdoings.
And I’m here to tell you all why that is utter bullsh*t.
<I’m going to clarify right now that, as of writing this article, I do not support Trump nor Clinton. I have not taken the time to actually look at their policies, so I cannot properly confirm my vote with either candidate. But I am informed enough to be writing this article and have everything be facts.>
The reasons why everyone supports who they do is pure crap. I’ve heard so many people say “Well, I don’t really know what she stands for. But she’s in the same party as the last president, and it’d be cool to see a woman as president- so I’m probably going to vote for her”. I’ve also heard even more people say “I know he’s said some messed up things, but he knows how to run businesses so I’m sure he’ll do fine with the economy. And everything else he just has Congress for”. Maybe it’s because I’m a bit educated when it comes to the presidency, but does anyone else see how ridiculous this is? People are basing their votes on generalizations. Of course, there’s pretty much everyone saying “Well I don’t want a racist, sexist, failure as president, so I’m with her” or “Her lies and being wishy-washy is too much, not to mention everything her husband did, so I’m for Trump”.
Let’s just stop right here and I’ll explain why this is terrible. First of all, whatever happened to being informed? Like, ACTUALLY informed, not just whatever idiot news-people (looking at you, Tomi Lahren) tend to spit out that week. We should be researching credible sources on the candidate’s policies and basing our judgments off of that. Also, letting other people make up our minds for us is just a disgrace. I don’t care what your best friend thinks, if YOU value gay rights or don’t think we should have national healthcare or whatever- you support who you support. This isn’t like deciding where to eat for dinner, “just caving” is not going to be easier- this is literally the fate of our nation we’re dealing with.
Of course, society’s lack of doing this isn’t entirely their faults (pretty bad, but not 100% on them). If anyone has actually watched these past two presidential debates (the originals, not the bad lip readings or voice-overs), they’ll tell you how much of a disgrace this whole election is. Not only are the debates worse than high school drama (and anyone over 14 knows how bad it can get), but they’re just stupid. He’s talking over her, she’s changing the subject 5 times per question, and nobody respects the mediators- it’s just pure trash. There is 0% talk of policy at these debates, and it really sickens me. I’ve taken enough history and government classes in my day (most of them while keeping up with the latest High School drama story), and even though this is the first election I can vote in I know for a fact that this is not how things are supposed to be. Forget her emails and his wall for a second- and think about how true this is. Elections are always dramatic and annoying- that’s why the majority of society hates politics or forbids it at dinner. But with this election in particular, it is so clear how misinformed we all are.
And I’m not about to break down both of the major parties’ platforms. We are all on our phones enough to look it up ourselves- but to sit there and say “I support So-and-so” without any actual facts is just wrong. A disgrace. And what doesn’t help with this also is social media. Before a debate is even over there is already 50 bajillion memes circulating the country and globe making fun of the candidates. And the media is at fault too! Everywhere you look, there is a new scandal being brought to light- even though both candidates have been under the spotlight for years and it never came out. I’m not saying they aren’t worth being investigated, but for every single news station to solely focus on the scandals and not try and mix in some good ol’ fashioned platform talk is just plain disrespect.
And to conclude my rant, I just hope that this next presidency isn’t as bad as the election. I hope that whoever wins gets their sh*t together and does something good for the country. I hope people take a step back from the Facebook fights to actually think about what they want to be fighting for.
PS: I don’t know how far this article will go, but if any of you agree with me please share this article and take a look at the link below. It’s for a petition to restart the election process. And even if we can’t fix this issue, the least we can do as frustrated citizens is try.
https://www.change.org/p/president-of-the-united-states-postpone-the-election-and-restart-the-election-process-a-second-chance-for-the-american-people-and-the-2016-presidential-election?recruiter=608598269&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=share_facebook_responsive&utm_term=mob-xs-share_petition-custom_msg
