In a sea of black-suited, American-flag pinned, mercilessly rehearsed uniformity in American politics, two figures appear on the 2016 Presidential ballot--and both of their barbers should be fired.

Bernie Sanders [I-VT], one of two independents to serve in the Senate, and Donald J. Trump [R], the radically conservative billionaire and real estate mogul, have both gained some serious ground in their race for the keys to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. They look different. They act different. Their policies seem crazy to some and like common sense to others. Despite all of this, each of the candidates have support that is spreading like wildfire. So how are these two leading the race over ostensibly safe bets such as Hillary Clinton and Marco Rubio?

Americans are looking for a change: a breath of fresh air. Democrats at large were over the moon with the election of our first black president in Barack Obama but the GOP contend that the former Harvard law professor is as effective as a square tire. He implemented a health care system that would guarantee care as a right rather than a privilege with the Affordable Care Act, he said no to the Keystone XL pipeline that would bring our crude oil industry across country lines and provide thousands of jobs while leaving the environment with a man-made expiration date, and he opened the door for about 10,000 Syrian refugees to come to the country to escape their terror-ridden home. Good or bad, Mr. Obama will leave the White House in 2016 and someone has to fill his seat and Americans will not sit by and participate in the installment of another "Yes We Can"-didate. We need someone different to fit our post-Obama mindset.

Those who see the nation as needing government-provided assistance with everything from higher education payments to enforcing strict guidelines that protect the environment would look at Sanders as a revolutionary godsend. They want to "Feel the Bern" even if that means the installment of a president who describes himself as a democratic socialist, an affiliation that requires explanation in itself. Sanders voters might say that Americans are using their freedom in ways that subjugate others, and that requires regulation.

The Donald's followers think differently. We must protect what we have and preserve our strengths rather than spreading ourselves too thin all over the globe. Our drive must be toward our ability to "Make America Great Again" instead of extending our capable hand to those who cannot provide a quid pro quo. Trump's notion to build a wall dividing the U.S. and Mexico to keep out any unwanted criminal immigrants, as well as his similar stance against the intake of Syrian refugees, preserve his domestic focus. Trump voters might say that Americans should act in our own interests first, and that intrinsically means that we secure both our borders and our beliefs.

Mr. Trump and Mr. Sanders have both attracted often surprising amounts of support from opposite sides of the voter pool primarily thanks to one thing: uniqueness. Turning on the news as of late is like reading fiction, expecting the next development has become near impossible and any kind of stability of opinion has been thrown in the garbage. This excites us. Politics has for so long been predictable. We know the cycle will continue, the Democrats and Republicans will kindly take turns every four to eight years, nothing too dramatic will change..until now. Either of these candidates would drive this country into a realm it has never before been. The presidential race looks like a circus act (at last!), the stock market is again setting record highs in the face of new and emerging markets (finally!), and people across the nation, especially in colleges and universities, are standing up against institutional injustice (once again!). For once in a very long time it is exciting to say that you are politically active!

This is the Bernie Sanders/Donald Trump Effect. We watched politics become mundane but thanks to characters such as these (and their presidential plausibility) we can't get into the ballot booth fast enough.