With popularity and money being (unfortunately) large parts of our totally messed up political system, it's no surprise that celebrity's voices are becoming more and more heard in politics.

We have seen a recent rise in celebrity influence when it comes to campaigns and elections. How much influence do they have on our vote? How much influence do they have when contributing to campaign funds and publicly supporting a candidate? And should we be okay with this?

Disclaimer: I am neither a "Democrat", "Republican", "Liberal" or "Conservative" so I found no need to be biased here.

If you don't live under a rock you've probably heard the term "Hollywood liberals." In contrast, you could live in the most gigantic hub of information and never hear the term "Hollywood conservative." Of course this makes perfect sense, as most people talented in the arts are typically more left. And there's nothing wrong with supporting who you want or identify with. The question is, regardless of party, do these people have unfair influence on young and older minds alike when using their popularity and money to help a candidate?

First of all we have to consider: how much of the general population's concerns could a wealthy celebrity possibly have in mind? And...how could they even relate to the issues of everyday American citizens? I personally don't think it's feasible for Beyonce and Jay Z., the second wealthiest celebrity couple (recently out-net-worthed by Taylor Swift and Calvin Harris) to be considering the actual needs of average people. While they may be traditionally "educated" on the topics, I doubt any real empathy could possibly be there. These people are not in touch with reality, and I certainly can't blame them. But if this is the case, we probably shouldn't be letting them influence our politics.

Second, I believe it is relatively easy to advocate for social policy when it won't really affect you. When you are a millionaire, it's not that difficult to give up a large portion of your income in taxes. Yes, I know how the tax brackets in America work and it's supposedly worse for the rich. But the super-rich is a different story. Of course you support progressive social policy when in reality, it hardly affects you. This may seem really cynical, but that's not my motivation. These people may really care about these policies, but they don't have to consider the effects like an average citizen would have to. Radical ideas aren't so easy to bandwagon with when it could change your everyday life. I'm sure some genuinely care, but rich celebrities "fighting for social justice" is almost laughable.

Lastly, why are these the people we look up to? In light of Kanye West's VMA rant in which he announced an absurd possible presidential run in 2020 (possibly even more absurd than Donald Trump's candidacy) ...why do we idolize these people? During his speech he had a ridiculous amount of disturbing grammatical errors, strange sudden stops in the middle of a thought, admitted to using illegal drugs and clearly seemed under the influence of something a good bit stronger than marijuana.

Are these the people we want in office? Imagine "Yeezy" representing us in foreign policy. Wow. And, are they even the people we want influencing our opinion of who should be in office? Even if he had a good message, it was strongly overpowered by his lack of class and lack of respect for himself and his audience. It was a disservice to everything he supposedly stands for.

I guess the whole point here is, we should look past celebrity status and wealth and think about what kind of people these really are that we let influence our decisions, politically and in other areas. I'm not sure when celebrities became politicians but it needs to stop. Don't get me wrong they are far from being the biggest issue here. And it is absolutely okay to support a candidate publicly and financially. But, the amount of influence these people have on their fans should be considered.