The upcoming election is one for the books. We currently live in a world where the Cubs are in the World Series (one year late, but we also don't have hoverboards), clowns terrorize the streets, a reality TV personality is running for President opposite a former First Lady, and the country is divided into so many sides that there isn't enough colors of Risk pieces to represent each faction. The last few months have been showing the underlying issues with both candidates, causing less unity and more splintering. Something is really wrong with the way this election has been ran, and I don't mean it being rigged. As soon as the two major parties announced their candidates, sides were taken, some being very militant in either direction. But it still doesn't look like the campaigns have really done their job too terribly well.

The debates have been less about politics and more about the individuals running. For example, most of the questions posed towards Hillary Clinton have been along the lines of “Donald Trump said this, how do you feel about it,” and the same for Trump himself. Whenever one started on an actual issue, they would eventually spiral out and start talking about what the other would say, not what their own plan was. Who would have thought that Trump would lay out his plan for his first hundred days in office at a campaign rally in Gettysburg, and not at a debate? Granted, his plan is pretty much just suing accusers and no actual Presidential acts but hey – at least he has said something. The media doesn't help the lack of actual political debate either, with the commercials for the news coverage of the debates looking like trailers for Batman v Superman. The best question asked at any of the debates was what they respected about each other – which oddly enough has nothing to do with the actual job of being President beyond the general respect they should have for others in their administrations. Is this really the fault of Clinton and Trump, or just a product of what this election has brought out?

We also have to look at the supporters of both candidates. Clinton began with a small group of supporters, but the majority of Democratic party leaned toward Bernie Sanders. For reasons that I do not wish to get into, Sanders ended up dropping out and working for the Clinton campaign. The ideals are pretty calm, pulling up information to back up arguments on social media, though they don't often force their opinions on others. Trump supporters, however, are a completely different beast. In general, they are usually the stereotypical Southern Republican, saying that all Democrats are crooks and always have been, that Trump will make America like it used to be – you know, with all the racism and hatred. And if you ever wanted to see threats of violence and just complete hate, read the comments section on any news article right now. When they announced Donald Glover would be in the untitled Han Solo film, the comments went straight to political, with many comments saying “Of course they force a black man into Star Wars. When Trump is President, this won't happen!” Even a feel-good story gets hit with near-violent political arguments. Though the blame cannot be put onto Trump alone. This racism, sexism, and just plain hateful attitude has always been there, hiding among the population – Trump just gave them a platform for it.

Every story is told to further split the readers. CNN has been accused of being biased and rigged against Trump. You know it's a bad candidate when Fox News doesn't support the Republican side in these stories. If Trump says one thing and Clinton refutes it, “liberal” news reports it one way, “conservative” news another. And the news stations love this – nothing drives up ratings or clicks than argument than division. It's once again like the ads for big summer blockbusters. And again, the people just love it. We love seeing things split into sides – Team Edward/Team Jacob (remember that one?), Captain America/Iron Man, butter side up/butter side down, Mystic/Valor/Instinct, and the list goes on and on. Why we like this, I don't know. But these divisions are what drives us, brings us together in being apart. The SleepNumber bed is literally based on this, where the person on one side of the bed can have a different setting than their partner.

Politically, we can have a fifty/fifty split. This is looking to be a likely event during this election, with every Trump voter having a Clinton supporter. This is, of course, removing the third party voters, because in our two-party system, they're just there to make it look like we're not two factions. It's happened before, or at least come close to it. The infamous recount in the 2000 election between George Bush and Al Gore led to a massive controversy, and a true 50/50 tie occurred in the election of 1800. John Adams was running against Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr – but Adams was essentially a lost cause. The vote came down to Jefferson and Burr, and it was a 73/73 split among the electors. It went to Congress, and took time and the endorsement of Jefferson by former Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton to give overwhelming support to Jefferson, with Burr receiving the second-highest amount of votes. Granted, in this time, the Vice-President was whoever came in second, leading to some issues between the two in power. However, this could happen again in 2016, leading to multiple recounts.

The other big issue is the Electoral College. While the concept worked in a time before digital communication, it allows for too much corruption and personal choice over the people. If a county votes for Clinton, but the elector in charge is for Trump, what is stopping them from giving a vote to Trump, considering the ballots are supposed to be secret? During the primaries, this was a major controversy, as some electors refused to vote for Sanders, as they supported Clinton and would not listen to the will of the people. With electronic voting machines slowly becoming the norm, it would be easier and the people's vote would matter a lot more, as the results could be delivered to the government in real-time, and exact totals could be found, thus preventing needs for recounts or eliminating the likelihood of a tie.

However you see it, the 2016 election is historic, and time will tell how it will be seen. A mistake that had disastrous effects on the country, or a triumph of American values. But depending on who you sided with, it will be the opposite of the other. Really, it's just going to cause more issues. There was no way to stop and fix this election before it got to the point of literal fights, but now we have to deal with what we created. This is our Frankenstein's Monster, so we have to do what we can with it. I think that overall, the election has just been a drain on everyone in some way, and hopefully the 2020 one will be a lot more civil and less “us vs. them.” Because once we fall completely into that mentality, we are no longer united. Then, after the election, we'll just find something else to be divided on.