Birthdays such as 13, 16, 18 and 21 all signify changes and new privileges in a person’s life. At age 13 — you are finally a teenager. Age 16 — you can drive. Age 18 — you can vote, and age 21 — you can legally drink. Each year we gain a little bit more responsibility as we are apparently becoming older and “wiser,” leading the adults in our lives to believe that we can make more informed and educated decisions in society.
Over this past summer, I celebrated my 18th birthday, wherein I gained the right to vote in the upcoming elections. To be honest, I thought having the privilege to vote would be pretty cool. I was excited to be able to voice my opinion and participate with other adults in such an important task. However, as the voting booth approaches I find myself even more confused and bewildered by the candidates. Given the four frontrunners, I cannot see myself confidently voting for any of them, and I think that the majority of new voters feel the same.
Politics aside, the way that the candidates treat each other is enough for me to be somewhat repulsed by the direction in which American politics seems to be heading. If you are unsure as to what I am talking about, how about Donald Trump tweeting out pictures of Ted Cruz’s wife or Ted Cruz retaliating to Donald Trump’s attacks by tweeting Austin Powers movie clips? I mean, really… We as a nation are really going to elect these two fools to the same office as George Washington and Thomas Jefferson?
While most of the attention has been centered around the Republican party, Democrats are nonetheless every bit as guilty. Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton have also been firing a round of attacks on one another, making this whole election look like a complete joke. The issues being debated in this election have been completely lost in the name calling and banter between candidates. Not only have the issues been lost in the midst of this craziness, but apparently our values as well. Racism, bigotry, and sexism have seemed to dominate conversations about this election.
It seems as though all of these candidates are running for a title and not a job. Yes, being president is a job and the people of the United States are your boss. When employing someone in a company, multiple factors are considered: skills, experience, professionalism, character, references, social media and many more. The fact is that all of the candidates lack at least one of these qualities if not many or all of them. In a real world job, all of their resumes would be disregarded in an application pool. In all seriousness, would anyone hire someone that tweets about a reporter’s menstrual cycle? The answer is no, tweeting about a reporter's menstrual cycle is both weird and creepy.
So why are we settling? Why have we given these candidates so long to try and prove themselves only for them to ultimately embarrass us as a nation? These are the questions that I am asking myself when I try to think about who to elect. Out of all of the smart and intelligent people in our nation, I am still extremely confused as to why these are the only four people who are being considered for the most powerful position in the world.
Young people are always criticized for not being involved in politics and voicing their opinions. I agree that this is a problem and I wish that more young people would be involved and interested in the direction of our country. But I also believe that my generation is at a loss of what to do. We have been given this new responsibility of voting, but what good does voting do if it's not for something or someone that you can believe in? I don’t want to vote for someone who I feel like I am settling for or who is incapable of the job in question. So with all that being said, I’m not sure I could have ever imagined voting to be like this. Congratulations, 17-year-olds, you missed this craziness by a year!
