As I write this, there are 4 days until this insane 2016 Presidential election is over. Over the last year and a half, there has been constant news coverage of the Presidential election that featured over 20 candidates, 3 Democrat and 17 Republican. Throughout that time, there have been so many headlines and stories, most of which have had nothing to do with the candidates' policies, but instead about the endless scandals - on both sides. The media's lack of focus on policy, and voter ignorance, has made this election feel like an awful reality TV show, rather than a presidential election.

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Hillary Clinton, the Democratic Presidential nominee has been no exception. After being investigating for a year it was determined by the FBI that Mrs. Clinton had been using a private email, on a non government server, when she was working as Secretary of State for the Obama administration. Mr Hillary had a private email server created, allowing her to send and receive both personal and work related emails on one device - without having to have her emails archived by the federal government. Consequently, many believe that instead of being President, Hillary Clinton should be in prison. Though this was probably not against the law, it is hard for anyone to argue that what Mrs. Clinton did was a bad idea, and not just because she got caught. This scandal has dominated almost every media discussion involving Clinton, and has lead to further speculation about why she may have had the private server. While Mrs. Clinton says that it was because it would be easier, however many people believe that she may have been trying to hide information that could in someway incriminate her or deface her character. One such incident that has given some weight to the belief that she is hiding something is her husband's meeting with the Attorney General of the United States just days before the FBI finished their investigation into her emails. No matter the real reason she had the private email server, the sensationalization of the issue has distracted many people from what themost important part of a presidential election policies and qualifications.

On the other side, it seems that almost every week, Republican nominee Donald Trump has said something alienating and offending a different group of people. His most notorious quote inferred that he believes most illegal Mexican immigrants are criminals and rapists; however, he was made sure everyone knew he was not trying to be racist by adding that some are good people..Whenever Mr. Trump makes one of these outrageous statements him and his supporters are always quick to claim that he is just being anti-politically correct and not racist or sexist. On top of calling illegal immigrants mostly criminals and rapists, Mr. Trump has also called for a temporary ban, forbidding muslims from entering the United States, because of recent terror attacks by Islamic extremist groups such as ISIS in the Middle East and Europe. He has also called women who have disagreed with him things like “fat pigs” and “dogs” along with inferring that Megyn Kelly, the FOX News reporter, was being unfair to him at a debate because she was on her period. Now while some of these things Mr. Trump has said do actually include policy, and are disrespectful, and perhaps racist, islamophobic and sexist, there still has been a lack of focus on what Donald Trump actually wants to do as president. I am sure that there are many people who have seen news article about the ridiculous things he has said, but would be surprised by what some of his proposed policies on his website are. Some of these policies include a tax plan that would ensure lower taxes for everyone and increase the size and spending on national defense. Now these policies may or may not help our country but they should be more important to voters and the media then some of the shocking things he has said.

These two scandals, along with many others, have made this election very painful to watch, especially as a first time voter and someone who cares very much about improving life in our country for the future. After watching at least a half an hour of each of the debates throughout the election cycle, and closely following the major news stories of the election, I am exhausted. Watching it unfold felt like watching two children argue on a playground about whose dad would win in a fight. I know many people share the belief with me that both these candidates are not the best people to be president but we have nobody to blame but ourselves.On both sides, there were plenty of candidates who did not insult numerous minority groups in the country, and that were not under investigation by the FBI. Somehow, though, this is what the people wanted. Maybe it is because the Democrats can look past the email scandal and the Republicans can look past all of the things Trump has said about other people. Maybe it is because there is a problem with the fact that almost all primaries are closed primaries. Maybe it is because the most viewed news channels on TV give more time to the scandals because that will attract more viewers.

Nobody has the answer to why these are the only two people who have a real chance of winning the election, or how we got to this place in history. It is especially puzzling when you consider that on both sides there were other candidates in the primary with significantly less drama surrounding them, from Bernie Sanders for the Democratic side, and John Kasich and Jeb Bush for the Republican side. All three of these candidates seemed like they were focused on policy, and finding a way to make our country better. Bernie Sanders has been especially focused on improving our country, even after ending his presidential race. He has been pushing to help get more progressive congress members elected, while fighting for policy change. However, one thing is true: once the votes have been counted, no matter which person wins, this election season will finally be over. Even if my lesser of two evils loses, I will be able stop worrying about who will be President and all the possible things that could happen. I will accept the elected President, with the expectation that in four years, our country will probably still be here, and not significantly worse or better off than it is today. I have never been happier to see an election cycle come to an end. This year of worrying about what is going to happen, and who will become president it is almost over. The one thing I do know is no matter who wins, they will have a really tough act to follow and definitely will not measure up to President Obama. So I only have one thing left to say... thanks Obama...seriously you really improved are country in a lot of ways.