Disclaimer -- This article is solely to express my own political views. It is not to try to devalue or change anybody’s views as everybody is entitled to their own opinions.
Most of my friends are probably aware that I am not a fan of the modern two-party political system. They also would tell you that I’m just not that invested in politics like my brother is. Instead, I am an economist. I believe economics is based on facts, whereas politics are based on emotions. I often keep relatively quiet when it comes to political discussions, so I can listen and gain information, and then perhaps form my own opinion.
Our political system seems to inadvertently make people choose a side. Why does that have to be the case? Just because I side more towards the Democratic end of the spectrum, it doesn’t mean that I think all Republican ideologies should be ignored and not looked into. For example, I feel as though the Republicans fiscally have a better understanding, but the Democrats are much more open to helping all types of people. Socially, I make my best effort to be open-minded because I believe that it doesn’t matter what you look like or how you identify. People are people. Everybody is different. Why do these reasons account for some people being punished on a daily basis? I do not understand.
More often than not, politics comes down to a popularity contest. More focus goes into beating the other party than it does promoting your own ideas for change. And politicians are known for constantly arguing. That irritates me greatly. So much arguing happens, and rarely does anything meaningful actually get worked out. Politicians can be close minded, and only focus on their own agendas instead of trying to learn what other people think and coming to a reasonable compromise. This country needs change immediately, and refusing to compromise strictly limits the amount of change that can happen.
Obviously, I am not happy with how the presidential race is going this year. This is the first election I can vote in, and it just seems like a joke. Donald Trump has almost zero political background, and to me it seems like he constantly changes his stance on important issues, just to make himself more marketable. I also feel as though he also uses fear to rally people together. Hillary Clinton, while definitely the most qualified in terms of political experience, to me does not have the necessary risk-taking characteristics to make decisions for the country and bring new ideas forward. She has a lot of baggage as well, and that will most likely limit how much people will trust her to make good decisions. Neither candidate really appeals to me.
Another issue that I have is that the media has too much influence on politics. The media paints a picture and tries to manipulate the people into thinking a certain way. No, not all media does that, but in my opinion, the media wanted this race to be between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, which is exactly what ended up happening. Yet at the Republican National Convention, many Republican officials protested against Donald Trump getting the nomination. Meanwhile, at the Democratic National Convention, there was a large uprising of Bernie Sanders supporters speaking out against Hillary Clinton. What does that say? Again, I feel the media had an agenda and did whatever it took to get Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump on the ticket.
To me, politics seems to just be a game, but shouldn’t be. It should be taken much more seriously by politicians than it really is. Being leaders of the country should result in openness and listening to people who may not agree with you in order to gain insight: that way actual progress can get made.
I think the idea of how politics works should be different. No, I do not have a magic idea on how to fix it. However, if so many people seem upset with how this election is going, then isn’t it time to try something new?
