The Battle For The Presidency

As the presidential field continues to expand, it is getting harder and harder to differentiate between the candidates. What makes one of them so much better than the rest? A more important question, though, is who is really going to make our country better?

Politicians are all talk. They are the kings and queens of bulls***. They tell you what you want to hear so they’ll get your vote, but the reality is that most of the things they say they’re "going to do" will not get accomplished during their reign as president.

There are many reasons for this such as polarized ideals, stronger lobbying efforts, etc., but in the near future, we probably won’t be able to change these things. It’s going to be a gradual process to get our government to, again, somewhat resemble what the founding fathers intended it to.

For all of you who are not political science majors or do not know much about politics, you probably don’t know exactly what I’m talking about when I mention "polarization" and "lobbying efforts," but that’s okay. What you need to know is this:

1. The reality is our next president will either be very liberal or very conservative.

2. If we take the previous statement as true, the president will either pass a lot of one-sided legislation without compromising with the other party, or he/she will not get any significant legislation passed (these scenarios are dependent on the majority party in Congress).

When we look at the presidential front-runners in each party, we will see that the first idea is true. Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump/Jeb Bush (depending on what source you are using) are on the opposite sides of the political spectrum. The media gives these individuals tremendous amounts of attention because, well, they are the most controversial. Americans love controversy. Politics wouldn’t interest us if there weren’t any arguments or scandals.

The thing is, though, by giving these people all of the media attention, the average American is unaware of the other candidates’ goals, and the controversial characters become more and more popular for their radical, “I’m going to change the world for the better” rhetoric.

They are not going to change the world, and if they do, it is probably not going to be for the better (at least for society at large). Without being able to compromise, legislation does not get passed, things don’t change, and people get angry.

The Democrats are probably going to nominate Hillary Clinton, and the GOP will probably choose between Jeb Bush, Scott Walker, Marco Rubio, or Donald Trump.

These people are not going to change anything or make our country better. So what kind of candidate do we need, you might ask?

For one, we need someone who is not so ingrained in politics. Before even getting into the presidential office, career politicians already have made tons of connections and promises to companies, individuals, special interest groups, etc., and this seriously limits what they can actually do in terms of passing meaningful legislation.

We also need an individual who is more moderate, whether they identify with the Republican or the Democratic party. Someone of this nature will be able to make compromises, and the laws that they pass will benefit more people of different backgrounds and ideals.

Is there such a candidate? Well, there is no perfect candidate who fits both of these descriptions. For the GOP, Carly Fiorina, Ben Carson, and Donald Trump are not career politicians (in fact, Fiorina is running on this quality), but whether or not they are moderates is a matter of opinion (although, most can say with confidence that Donald Trump is not a moderate). It is also a matter of opinion whether the three lesser known candidates for the Democratic nomination, Martin O’Malley, Jim Webb, and Lincoln Chafee, are moderates.

No matter what your opinion may be, however, we need to take the spotlight off of the radical individuals and start giving more attention to the candidates who are more moderate. The candidates who are constantly involved with scandals and always in the middle of heated controversies are not the people we need to lead this country. They are looking for attention, and we are giving it to them. We need to give credit to the individuals who are serious about this race. Politics might be a little more boring to listen and learn about, but at least we would have a decent individual running our country to truly make it a better place to live.