The title caught your attention, didn't it?
Normally I stick to sports articles, but this is a situation that has been weighing on me for months now.
Last Thursday night I let myself watch the GOP Presidential Debate and couldn't believe some of the things I was seeing, and some of the observations I was making while I watched. So I made a list.
First, before Donald Trump would talk about an issue or a policy plan, he would first insert some sort of personal attack. I think his best examples were referring to fellow candidate Marco Rubio as "Little Marco" and a few inappropriate correlations between hand size and, well, you know what.
Second, he brought the other candidates down with him. Eventually it became a battle of showmanship about the issues, each candidate (save for Ohio homebody John Kasich) going after each other with personal attacks of their own. It was a contest of who could burn each other the worst. In that battle, Trump won handily.
Third, what did I learn? All of their plans are pretty much the same. Cut taxes. Work to improve human rights. The things people want to hear on national television.
But what did I really learn?
I really learned that Trump is a serious contender to be the 45th president of the United States. Even worse, he's the kind of president this country has been trending toward for years now and it scares the hell out of me.
I'm young, and probably pretty naive to the world still, but I feel like I have when witness to a great cultural change in this country. We are a nation that emphasizes the idea of 'instant gratification' more and more every day. You see it in our technology, the whole world is in our hands at all times. People want things done right now, the right way and that's it. If a complete product isn't cooked up right away, people turn away from it entirely. The ideas of hard work, progress and patience I believe in are falling by the wayside in today's culture. "The American Dream?" More like The American Myth.
But that's exactly what Trump is promising to the American people. Instant gratification. Quick fixes to the problems that are affecting America daily. It's just wrong. He proposes fixing these problems in the wrong way and people are loving it. Absolutely eating it up.
People around me and around the country are talking about immigration and how important it is moving forward. People care about what is going to happen, what America is going to do with the entire situation. I mean, what's a more instant fix than a giant wall around Mexico? Because that's gonna solve everything!
The economy is something else that bothers people, and is the center of much debate in the political landscape. The wall of debt that the United States faces is almost comedic. What are we going to do about it? A plan so fool-proof, so concrete, that it doesn't make sense. Literally. That's what happens when Trump wants to cut $300 Billion Dollars off of the $78 Billion in spending. That's an instant fix, right? It's what people want to hear. It's wrong, as FOX news was so quick to point out, but most people won't dig deep enough to find that it's wrong. They'll look at it, see the numbers, skip the context and facts and decide that it "works for them." It's illogical impractical, and borderline stupid.
The reason Donald Trump's population is ever-growing to voters is not just because he trots out plans that offer instant (albeit, extreme) solutions to issues, but because he fits the bill for the American people and fits the "American" mindset that is contaminating our country right now. Watch the debates he participates in, watch his political rallies. How is it possible that one man can hop up on stage, make such nasty, vulgar comments toward people and be applauded for it? Beloved for it?
Why is that? Well that's what is keeping this country moving right now. Hate. Division. Alienation. Look what has happened in the last few years, the things we still see broadcasted all over the news today. These are a few of the big issues that we see every day.
Every. Single. Day.
People love to talk about division, alienation and hate. It's "America against the World." If you aren't with us, you're against us. It's the wrong mindset to have. People don't want immigrants in the United States? Sorry Mexico. Sorry Syria. Get lost. People want to fix the economy? Make products here in the States. Save jobs. "Don't outsource to other countries, it hurts the workers here!" These ideas further divide the American people instead of bringing them together, turning people of different color and background against each other because some guy in a suit with a bad toupee says it's OK to do that.
Even his campaign slogan has a dishonest message: "Make America Great Again."
What's wrong with America?
What can he do about it?
The people are what's wrong with America. The institutions that have been around since this country's inception. The system that we have in place here. That's what's wrong with America. This is the country we live in now, that's a cold reality. But Instead of choosing a leader to help us dig ourselves out of it, to restrengthen the connections between the U.S. people and our relationships with the world, people are content with picking the leader who will further entrench us in dire problems.
The people want to elect a man who not only embraces these people, these institutions and these systems, but feeds into them, making them stronger with every rally?
The people deserve what they could be getting. I'll start packing for Canada now.
