It seems people these days care more about defending presidential candidates' actions rather than discussing actual policy. They would rather debate about individuals' character than talk about the real issues. I believe this stems from their belief that a criticism of their candidate's character or actions is a criticism of their ideology.

The question is, if someone who subscribes to a particular ideology makes a mistake or intentionally commits an act of wrongdoing, should their mistake or wrongdoing reflect poorly on their ideology?

Many people seem to think the answer is "yes." You can tell because they reflexively defend their favorite candidates from any and all criticisms as well as launch purely character and behavior based attacks against their political opponents. They seem to be under the impression that acknowledging criticisms of their political heroes would tarnish the integrity of the political ideology the candidates espouse. Similarly, they believe that making critical comments of their own against their opponents proves the best way to attack an ideology they find disagreeable.

In order to more easily approach the question, consider an analogy involving my celebrity crush. If Katy Perry admitted that she steals towels from hotels, should her actions lead anyone to conclude that the quality of all pop music has decreased? If you and I were discussing Katy Perry's talent as a musician or the quality of the pop music genre, would her towel stealing be at all relevant to the discussion? Would it be productive to the conversation for me to spend my time defending her towel stealing?

Clearly, Katy Perry's hypothetical towel stealing past time has no relation to her talent as a musician and certainly no bearing on the quality of pop music in general. It would be pointless and unproductive to bring her bad habit up in conversations about her ability to make catchy music or the future of the pop genre. If there was a national pop music contest where everyone could vote for who they believed should decide the future of pop, wouldn't it be silly to debate about whether Katy Perry suffers from kleptomania rather than discussing her plans for the genre?

Similarly, many people spend their time debating about whether Donald Trump is a racist, whether Hillary Clinton is a liar, whether Ted Cruz is a religious fanatic, whether Bernie Sanders is an idealist, whether John Kasich is a true conservative, and whether Marco Rubio even exists. People feel like these things decide the fate of their ideology.

Here's an example of a typical scenario that I see every day: A supporter of candidate "Bob" is faced with the fact that Bob has lied in the past. A supporter of candidate "Jim" claims that, because of Bob's record of dishonesty, Bob is unfit to lead and everyone who approaches political issues in the same way that Bob does is also a liar. The Bob supporter feels threatened and, instead of acknowledging Bob's mistakes and explaining that they don't reflect poorly on Bob's plans for the future, tries to justify Bob's lies and resorts to lashing out at Jim's past mistakes. And the cycle goes on and on and on.

This is the equivalent of a Rihanna fan claiming that, because of Katy Perry's towel stealing, Katy Perry is an inadequate musician and everyone who likes her music must also have a habit of stealing towels. The right response to such a claim is for a Katy Perry fan is to first, be honest and admit that Katy Perry does indeed steal towels and that acknowledge that it's bad to steal towels. Then, he or she should explain specifically how Katy Perry's plans for the future of pop are better than Rihanna's and that her towel stealing doesn't negate the quality of those plans. The Katy Perry fan should take the high road and steer the conversation back to the real issues rather than give the Rihanna fan's outrageous claims any stock.

All of the candidates all make mistakes (one worse than others) and do wrong. In the grand scheme of things, it doesn't matter if the candidates "steal towels." It has no relevance to the discussion. What matters is if they can better the nation through their political leadership.

Please, the sake of the future of the country, stop making elections about who makes the least mistakes or who had the best character and instead make it about whose policies and plans can move us in the right direction for a better tomorrow.