For my 22nd birthday, I received a television. Little did I know, that this device, which I thought would be nothing more than a beefed up Netflix machine, would become my gateway into the twisted world of government and politics. Allegheny no longer includes a semi-premium cable package to us. The channels we do get, are fairly useless. Early on, I made the decision to keep my set tuned in to one station and one only: C-SPAN. Some might argue that this is the most boring snooze-fest, ever, but these days, what with our government in shambles, it is far more entertaining and educational than re-watching "How I Met Your Mother" for the trillionth time.

You may be asking yourself where I stand on political issues. I would have to say that I am in the middle. I'm pro-gay, pro-women, pro-legal-marijuana, pro-individual. I believe that we should each be entitled to our own religious beliefs (or non-beliefs, for the atheists out there), and that just because I might not agree with your views, that doesn't mean that we can't be friends, or civilized individuals towards one another. Even though I wouldn't own a gun for protection, I am not opposed to those who own them for sports, or for maintaining their livelihoods. I would consider myself to be a fierce independent.

These days, I feel as though politicians have metamorphosed into sideshow acts at a circus. Or maybe a more apt description would be to say that it is as if all of the adults have left the building. Even the most adult of the candidates still seem to be egotists.

At this point, I feel as though the political process is lost, and what we are left with is like a horrible car crash: we don't really know what we can do about it (even though many pundits have shared their own so-called solutions), and there are too many barriers to entry.

Perhaps this will contradict my previous statement, but I feel that we must not lose hope. As Americans, we are privileged in our ability to vote. I hope that everyone who is in a primary state is paying attention, and voting. This is our time to be heard.

I will watch with bated breath as this circus continues, and hopefully then, I'll have more insight into this thing we call our government.