Do you know what really bothers me? The knowledge that it's my patriotic duty to vote, especially since brave women fought for my rights in 1920, and looking around at all of the presidential candidates and feeling the urge to write in "Mickey Mouse" as my vote. And I know that I'm not the only one.
The most recent Republican debate was the highest rated television program for Fox News so far this year. According to the Fox News website, Bill O'Reilly brings in approximately three million viewers each night with his analysis show, "The O'Reilly Factor." According to a CNN article, the debate pulled in 16.8 million viewers. It was the fourth-highest rated primary debate on record. Take into consideration that the people who are actually going to vote in the Republican primary elections are probably also tuning into "The O'Reilly Factor," at least some of the time. So if about three million people are dedicated Republicans, watching the debate in order to choose their candidate, and about three million are voting Democrats/Independents who are watching to gauge the competition, then that leaves about 11 million people who are tuning into the debate to either learn or laugh. They probably did a bit of both because this is turning into a joke.
Do you know what really bothers me? The fact that John Kasich is the lone adult onstage at the debates ever since Marco Rubio sold out and stooped to Trump and Cruz's level and realized that, unfortunately, the media loved it. I don't think that I have to explain why I dislike Cruz and Trump, right? It's like even their supporters don't really like their chosen candidate, it's just that they hate the other guy more. The Republicans have never won the Presidency without carrying the state of Ohio, and here you have John Kasich, a successful governor of Ohio, and nobody cares enough to give him five minutes to talk onscreen, leaving most voters to ask, "John who?" And then when Kasich said that women left the kitchen to vote for him, the only time the media ever covered anything that he said. Facepalm.
Do you know what really bothers me? The fact that Hillary Clinton will most likely win the Democratic nomination and she'll talk up the fact that she wants to work across the aisle to form bipartisan legislation. I read a Facebook status recently about how John Kasich would be a great Vice Presidential choice for her because of his similar rhetoric about his desire to work across the aisle, symbolizing true unity between the political parties but how that's a dream world. If we're going to be progressive, then let's be progressive. I'm waiting for the change about which everyone preaches.
Do you know what really bothers me? The fact that an Independent candidate essentially cannot win an election because even though the two parties hate each other, they've clogged the system enough so that even though it's a shame that the other side might win the Oval Office, at least it's a known evil, so they've managed to keep out independent candidates. I think if Ralph Nader were around, he'd be looking pretty appealing right about now. But if Teddy Roosevelt can't win as an Independent candidate, I've given up that dream.
Sorry to all of my millennial Facebook newsfeed fillers, but I'm just not feeling the Bern. I know that for many, he's a dream come true and the candidate that we all need. Unfortunately, I can't bring myself to believe in his ideas actually coming true and being beneficial for the country. So Bernie is out for me. And at one time, when she was Secretary of State, I almost liked Hillary as a human being. It passed, though, because if I have to hear one more time about how the Republican candidates are donating millions of dollars to charity in order to make up for the fact that they are rich while she spends those same millions on her campaign and tries to act like she's not rich, then I'm going to vomit.
So do you know what really bothers me? This political party system. And it's a shame, because I love this country more than anything. However, I'm looking around waiting for a person who actually wants what is best for the country and can actually push the agenda through in order to achieve this. While I wait, I might be writing in "Mickey Mouse."
