I’m sick of hearing about the election. But right now, I feel obligated to, and we’re not going to stop hearing about this election until the next one starts, so I may as well. I have said before that I love politics, and I’m realizing now that that is incorrect. I am deeply invested in politics but I do not love them. As a matter of fact, I absolutely hate them.

I’m incredibly involved politically. I read the news every day and I stayed up until 3:30AM (I’m five hours ahead of Eastern Time) to watch the first Presidential Debate. I feel comfortable saying that I am an informed citizen. Informed, however, does not mean good. I don’t feel like a good citizen. I do not feel like a good person in general when I talk about politics. Previously, I had always thought of myself as an inclusive, open-minded, person, and this recent election has taught me that I am not nearly as open-minded as I thought I was.

When people disagree with me politically, I am absolutely enraged. Regardless of whether the person is supporting a third party candidate or the candidate that I disagree with, my rage is unmatched. Nothing makes me quite this livid. It’s not rational, and more importantly, it is not kind or understanding. Instead of seeking to understand these people and their views, it’s as if my mind is overwhelmed by anger and obtuseness. And from what I have seen on social media and the news, I’m not the only person who feels this kind of anger.

This election is not about what is best for our country as a whole, but rather about voting for one candidate in attempt to prevent the other candidate from winning the White House. We have been divided into two groups with no way of merging them together, even for the greater good. This election has turned into a fight of who is right and who is wrong, rather than what is right, and what is wrong. We’ve forgotten to be good to one another. Or maybe, we never quite knew what it was like to be good to each other in the first place.

With the 2016 election, there is a considerable amount of discontent. Nobody is happy with the government, and perhaps reasonably so. But this anger, this lack of understanding, this blatant refusal to acknowledge what is right is taking the power away from us, and giving it right back to the government that we all claim to hate so much. We shouldn’t be fighting with each other. We should be working together to make America better for everyone. Not just ourselves, and not just people who are similar to us. Divided, we will fall apart, but united, we can stand.

I don’t like politics because they are making it easy for me to forget what’s actually important. And I hate politics for the false ideals it has created in my country. I don’t like politics because they are keeping people from loving each other, and that is the worst of all.