Beginning to avidly learn about politics during a presidential cycle may not be the best idea in the first place because there is so much to catch up on. The 2016 cycle was certainly no different. If your interest with politics was piqued recently due to your age, there was a massive influx of information--a lot of which was negative--that you had to deal with.
1. You may have begun your research with the news.
Perhaps you started with CNN, FOX or any of the other major news networks. After a couple weeks of watching clips of candidates speaking, briefly interrupted by news of another violent attack or celebrity wardrobe malfunction, something felt wrong. Maybe you thought that the reporters were biased towards one party, or you thought that the news was becoming secondary to entertainment. Either way, you may have abandoned the televised media in search of more neutral, fact-based reporting.
2. Then you might have turned to the internet.
Your hopes of finding the straight-up facts were looking a little more bright--and indeed, the third party news sources were not quite so pessimistic. At least, if they were, they were pessimistic towards both sides. You also learned about “the establishment” and developed your own opinions about it.
3. Eventually you looked up videos of the candidates talking for themselves.
You realized that many of the speeches had clearly been rehearsed, revised and performed, and it was still unclear what many of the candidates actually believed. What words were truly theirs, and what words were put there by others?
4. You realized that Trump could potentially be the future president of the United States.
5. And so could Hillary.
6. You witnessed the rise and fall of Bernie Sanders.
Like Trump, Sanders represented many people's frustrations with the government and with society as a whole. He provided a way for many people to debate health care, student debt, big banks, wealth inequality and taxes; he also pushed the Democratic party’s platform farther to the left. He did surprisingly well throughout his campaign, but in the end supported Hillary--the epitome of the establishment he’s purportedly fought against his whole life.7. The FBI’s decision on Clinton’s email scandal might have increased your distrust in the government.
Despite finding Clinton’s actions to be “extremely careless,” she was not indicted. FBI director James Comey continued on to say, “To be clear, this is not to suggest that in similar circumstances, a person who engaged in this activity would face no consequences. To the contrary, those individuals are often subject to security or administrative sanctions.” Are politicians and other high-ranking officials above the law, or was the FBI right in their decision? You decide. Either way, it opened the door for more discussion on government corruption.8. You may have had a massive political identity crisis if you didn’t relate to either main candidate
9. So, you researched third party candidates.
Gary Johnson of the Libertarian party and Jill Stein of the Green party are the two most prominent. Perhaps you found a candidate who best matched your views here, or you decided that this year, you are stuck choosing the candidate you dislike the least--however, your research about individual candidates may have ended at this point.
10. You finally realized that the two-party system is whack, but it’s a little too late.
And after all, just about everyone told you a third-party vote is a wasted vote. Despite the growing number of people dissatisfied with Trump or Hillary, it seems highly unlikely that either Johnson or Stein stand a chance. Why do we only have two choices, and why is it acceptable to always have to pick between the lesser of two evils? Aren't you still choosing evil? More importantly, what are you going to do to change it?11. And worst of all - you didn’t have any prior elections to compare it to.
If this is your first time being aware enough of politics to follow the election, you likely were overwhelmed with realizing how many people distrusted the government and the two leading candidates. But has it always been this way? I was in middle school during the last election--don’t ask me.
