As the 2016 election approaches, the debates on television have been anything but boring. We gather around couches with friends trying to guess what color pantsuit Hillary Clinton will be wearing, wondering just how old Bernie Sanders really is and creating drinking games out of Donald Trump’s indecencies. These debates have turned into a spectacle of wit and sarcasm. We no longer focus on smart answers or new ideas. It's about whomever has the flashiest quip to make the front page. It is embarrassing to be a part of such a mockery of politics.
Millennials are the next wave of voters, and as much as people will refute it, we are important. Millennials are a generation of innovation. We are scientists and creators together in the same job. We are thinkers and lovers. There is seemingly nothing we cannot do. And now, with the right to vote, we have the ability to change the world even further than we already have.
We are a generation of the “gray area.” There is simply no black and white anymore. And this doesn’t just apply to mixed race couples and children. We are a generation that is challenging old ideologies any chance we can get. It is no longer heterosexual and homosexual. We are accepting gender fluidity. We are beginning to understand labeling someone as this or that is simply ignorant. There is a spectrum of people and we continue to blend the old with the new.
The problem is that there is no way our minds could possibly vote with happiness or confidence. We are picking the lesser of two evils rather than the perfect fit for our country’s needs. This is due to the strong binary within our political system. For a generation of gray area thinkers and people who are neither this nor that, we cannot regress back into binary thinking. It is either you are left or you are right. You are conservative or you are liberal. You are a Republican or you are a Democrat. There is no middle ground for us to sink our feet into. And god forbid you claim either side.
If you claim Republican, you automatically are a woman-hating, money-grubbing, self-righteous prick who doesn’t live in accordance to modern ideals. And if you are a Democrat, you are a liberal, free-spirited, military-hating socialist who is too nontraditional and bears no morals.
I am a child who comes from traditionally conservative parents, yet I go to a very liberal college. I can see the benefits and problems with each side. My problem is, as with most kids my age, is deciding which we choose. We don’t have anything that blends our ideals.
Well, for most people my age, the answer is we don’t choose, we don’t vote. But, that isn’t solving anything. If we don’t vote, or speak up, or come at this with new ideas, nothing will change. We will never be happy with the political system at large.
Another screaming problem is that debates are a money game. No one is going to pay for an independent candidate who might possibly meld ideals from both sides. There are only two sides to this American coin we keep flipping.
We need to regulate campaign funds and lessen the Democrat-Republican binary. We need to reevaluate those in the House and in the Senate. We need to open our minds and listen to each other for once.
I understand not every person will be happy with every single political system or person in power, because we are fickle humans who are flawed beyond help. I also understand tradition and history are important. But mostly, I understand when change is needed. And I strongly believe it’s time for that change.
