On November 8th, our country will embark on another journey with the election of a new President into office that will decide our future for not only the next four years, but will determine the aftereffects to follow – whether positive or negative. This election season has been exceedingly peculiar, to say the least, with the nomination of unlikely candidates for each of the running parties. With the amount of scandal and accusations being thrown in each direction, it is hard to determine what is factual and what could be deemed political garble. Whether you're a Republican, Democrat or Libertarian, all parties can agree that there has been a great divide among voters that hasn't been evident to this extent in elections past – a divide that has many times turned violent and unnecessarily disrespectful, on both ends. Our country has suffered the effects from such an eccentric political season, and it has proved to become more frightening than the long list of allegations the candidates have accumulated.
Living in a country that was founded on the basis of democracy, we have become extremely judgmental whenever it comes to the opposing party's decisions on certain matters and law. Rather than being conceding to said matters, members of each party have made it their personal vendetta to criticize and ostracize those who might disagree with their choice of say healthcare, abortion law or marriage rights. The issue does not arise in the fact that we have differing viewpoints, it forms whenever an individual decides that their opinion is more important than the privileges we have been given as Americans in abiding in freedom of speech and thought.
Innocent, I am hardly – but more times than not, I do not feel comfortable sharing my political views; whether on my social media or even with my peers at my university. We have molded a society that truly concludes that your preference of party regulates all of your other personal characteristics and disposition. This ideology is not relatively new, but this political season has heightened it beyond anything that has surfaced before due to the unusual choice of candidates. Those who support Donald are outright idiotic, or those who support Hillary are just as crooked as she is, and for the other select few, they have decided to relieve the country of their voting duties outright. It has proved to constitute a disappointing election, in the fact of we have become more detached than ever, and mainly due to the refusal to yield our assumptions to the likings of others.
This country needs a reboot in the definition of what it means to be an American. We stand united whether difference in race, color, religion, or political preferences. Are we all going to agree on every matter? No, but that is what conceives diversity that allows for the accommodation of contradicting beliefs. It forms a balanced population and government that is going to be more susceptible to acknowledge the wants and desires of its people and not be clouded by denouncing tendencies. It is time to take a step back and evaluate where our so-called "notions" has driven this nation, because as far as I am concerned, it doesn't matter who is in office if the public is going to be in constant turmoil over who is right and who is wrong. We can only save ourselves at that point.
