Now that I am finally of age to vote in a presidential election, I have spent more and more time indulging in politics. Most recently, I took a chance and watched the first GOP debate for the 2016 candidates and let me tell you: IT WAS GREAT!
Growing up in the era of MTV and reality TV shows, this debate particularly appealed to that side of me. It was like all my guilty pleasures had come together and had a baby. Between the bickering of Chris Christie and Rand Paul, Donald Trump clarifying that he only cared about himself winning and intended to hedge his bets anyways he could (including paying into the Democratic candidates' campaigns so that he could collect favors from them in the future), and the general lack of facts, solid political stances, or general discussions about the future of this country, this debate seemed more like a bad reality tv show than a serious political discussion.
While watching this debate, two things stood out to me.
First, the level of disunification within the Republican candidacy. The candidates during the 9 pm (EST) debate spent equal if not more time disagreeing with and slinging mud at each other as they did the Democratic nominees. Now how can these candidates expect to unify and strengthen a nation when they can't even put on a brave face and pretend to stand in solidarity with each other on stage?
Second, capitalist corruption seemed to be a very clear in this particular debate (Thank you, Donald Trump!). It also seems to be a very clear problem overall with American society.
Between these two very large issues, it occurs to me that the Republican nominations, rather than standing before us as leaders, stand before us as mirror images of our own broken society with more money, more power, and more influence.
Watching the Republican debate not only gave me a good laugh, it led me to the conclusion that to create a something we've never seen before, a world filled with equality and fair opportunities for all, we must do something we have never done before and elect someone different from all the rest.
The Republican debate simply served to solidify my own political beliefs that social progression is the way to go and that I am very proud to be "Feeling the Bern". While the Republican nominees worry about sounding politically correct (or in Donald Trump's case, doing the exact opposite), Bernie Sanders seems to be worrying about what practical solutions the United States can enact to better serve their citizens. He is worrying about making sure every child has the ability and option to go to school free of charge. He is worrying about closing the salary gaps between America's middle class and "the 1%". He is worrying about the average American. Not one single Republican nominee notably said anything about how they planned to better the lives of the working class American and for that simple reason I strongly believe one Bernie is worth a million Republican nominees. Hands down.
