For most of my life, I looked forward to finally turning 18 so I could vote in political elections and help make America a better place. Taking high school government classes, I could not wait to become an involved citizen, for a while, I even considered going into politics. I had always found something amazing and wonderful about the American political system: elected officials, a democracy within a republic, all that jazz. I was so excited on my 18th birthday to finally be able to vote for President.
And then this election happened.
Is it just me, or does this entire election feel like a giant joke? And not even a good joke? Look at our top four Presidential candidates, we have "cool grandpa" Bernie Sanders; Hillary Clinton, whose entire campaign looks like an awkward old person trying to stay hip; Ted Cruz, also known in Florida and on the Internet as the Zodiac Killer, and Donald Trump, who half of America seems to believe is Hitler reincarnated.
The debates this election season have been laughable at best, downright humiliating at most. Candidates have yelled at each other for reasons not even political and jonestly just plain petty. Do we really need to discuss the size of Donald Trumps hands (and other things) on national television? No. Honestly, I feel like I can't even take the political standings of the candidates seriously because everything else is a complete laughing stock.
One of the foundations of Confucianism was that a ruler should be removed from the people, the less they know about him personally, the better he would rule. Now, I'm not saying that I'm a follower of Confucius or that I want our future President to be hidden from the populace; I just think it might be helpful if this election season, we actually focused on the political leanings of candidates and not whether or not they are "Just chilling, in Cedar Rapids."
We look like a joke. I think it, other Americans think it, the rest of the world thinks it. I feel like I'm caught in some never ending episode of "Parks and Rec" or "Bob's Burgers" or something. So, please, America, can we at least try to get our act together, and look at what matters about a candidate instead of their Snapchat story or weird hair or serial killer likeness? This is a Presidential election, not a high school popularity contest.
