Last Wednesday night, while I was cramming for my math exam, I was listening to Spotify when YG’s single, FDT(F*** Donald Trump), came on. Naturally, I began reciting lyrics to a song in which YG expresses a sentiment that many people in the nation feel, and that sentiment is that, Donald Trump, is not who we want in office. I am one of those of the nineties’ babies who grew up in a post-generation X internet age who will be voting for the first time. I have been told I should be proud that I have the opportunity to vote, but I hold no excitement for this upcoming election, and neither do many of my counterparts. The issue with this election is that we have to deal with all the carcinogenic unresolved issues that have metastasized.
Ultimately, the system is archaic and we all know it. The electoral college doesn’t represent those of us who are in college, and it seems like no one ever addresses the fact that it doesn’t. Many of my peers despise the infrastructure of the American government and lack respect for it. We find it hard to find our place in a two-party system when we our conditioned to be in the party that our parents rallied with in our living rooms while watching the seven o’clock news. We don’t resonate with the Republican or Democratic party but are rather raised in them.
I grew up in Augusta, Georgia and have always had a certain awareness that no matter who I voted for on election night, Georgia would be a red state. Growing up in this millennium, we don’t understand the concept of our voice not being heard or our opinions not being of significance. We have the ability to express our thoughts in one hundred and forty characters at any moment and have applied that freedom of expression to everything. So, when we get on our Facebook pages and see clips of the candidates standing at podiums making ridiculous blanket statements that don’t relate to us, we automatically become disinterested. We have recognized that the election is not catered to our generation, so in response we have decided to not partake in the political buffet. Some may feel as if we're just technologically spoiled millennials who want everything handed to us, but we have been conditioned to be that way.
Outside of the system being dated, we have been raised in political illiterate culture that has prompted us to form our current perceptions. It seems many times, we don’t actually know the candidates’ agenda or their proposals, but instead form our opinions from social media posts that we consume on a daily basis.The issue is we don’t know enough about politics to know who to vote for in this election. All throughout our secondary educations, we were taught in our history classes about an electoral college that chooses the president instead of us. Possessing that knowledge creates a feeling of being lied to, and forms a certain distrust with the American political process.
We watched as Flint, Michigan died of thirst because their only other option was to drown in contaminated water. We lost our ability to exhale as witnessed Eric Garner lose his ability to breathe. We are not comfortable in our own country causing us to be dissatisfied with the idea of voting for someone who only is going to make us more uneasy. We do not want the next four years to be stagnant and we do not see any progression in our candidates. The election of President Obama was filled with excitement and these candidates haven’t enticed us with that same feeling of change. We want candidates who have the ability to combat Flint’s dehydration and the nation’s breathless fights against police brutality, and I don’t feel like that we have that.
Our social media accounts are filled with left-wing images and thoughts which looks as if we’re Anti-Americans who long to be social media domestic terrorists. We are not Anti-America, but we are anti-injustice, and are longing to have a leader who has that same resentment for inequality.
Although our forerunners are describing the election that we are in as hell, it is more of a state of purgatory. Everything is uncertain and we are scared of the direction that the country is going in. In fear, as humans we either go into fight or flight, and my generation doesn't seem like we know what want to do, but ultimately I have faith that we will fight for our country instead of spreading our wings and gliding away from the 2016 election.
