To begin, all opinions and views expressed in this piece are just that - opinions and views. Please respect that, and be as open minded as possible. Thanks!
So I asked a bunch of my friends if they were proud to be an American. Now wait, don't go thinking I'm some anti-America scumbag, but I'm genuinely interested. After the debate on Monday night, I was interested in seeing other people's opinions on the state of the nation and their levels of patriotism. With that being said, the responses I got were definitely on a spectrum.
Responses began with "of course I'm proud to be an American, but..." Every single response had a catch - stating their pride in America followed by a list of reasons why they didn't like it. Isn't that how it always goes, there's always a catch.
Our choices for president are pretty sad, to be honest it's downright depressing. Unfortunately we have to choose between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, and becuase Gary Johnson and Jill Stien don't have nearly as much money to advertise, I'm afraid that they don't stand a chance simply becuase no one knows who they are.
Isn't that sad though? There are actually other options, but becuase Trump can't stop tweeting, we will never hear about them. The tweets and the drama are what the media wants. Because most Americans base their presidential choices off of what they learn from scouring the interwebs and watching TV, they will never know about Gary Johnson or Jill Stein. Or how either one of them winning in even just one state could really change the results of this election. Do you see the problem here?
The debate was atrocious, and I'm embarrassed, but it was dramatic and that's good for the networks. I think this election season has set a tone for America, that we live for the drama and bring ourselves up by putting others down.
It's scary to be wrong isn't it? Humans innately only hear what they want to hear. Leave out the negatives, the things we don't agree with - maybe if we ignore it long enough it will just disappear. But it won't, sorry to burst your bubble.
I think this election season lacks genuine respect and social fluency. Our government has always struggled to agree internally, but now our nation is struggling to agree on anything. As hate flies back and forth between both sides, its hard to hear about actual changes that are going to be made. As I sit here and shame Donald Trump there's no way you can say its unwarranted. Without any real knowledge of how even plans to do anything in office, I wonder why so many Americans are so disgusted by our governmental body that they really allowed someone of his nature get this far.
I'm stuck. I don't know who to vote for and I don't know if I should even vote. This is the first time I'd be able to vote in a presidential election, and both my options blow. I feel like I can't make a difference, but the thought of Trump being the president is nightmare inducing. Do I vote for Hillary in hopes that it makes enough of a difference to prevent that bigoted asshat of a man to take the iron throne? Or do I just ixnay the vote all together? I really can't stand either of them, this is so painful, it burns.
So there are two more stand up comedy shows, oh wait, I mean debates...there's two debates left. I'll sit back with my my friends and my popcorn, while we all try not to cry. Hopefully by the end of the last debate I'll be able to make a choice, but I'm not holding my breath.
The moral of the story is this: heck yeah I'm proud to be an American - but what will that mean on November 8th?
