In this year of political showdowns and resorts to extremism on both sides of the political spectrum, there has been an induced climate comparable to a circus among all candidates, Democratic and Republican.

This instills in people like myself great doubt and despair over a potential loss of our nation’s ability to produce fair-minded and rational leaders; leaders whose major priority is something to the effect of uniting both sides when it comes to accomplishing what needs to be done.

However, serving allegiance to a political party and arousing anger and unnecessary anxiety in some redneck Georgia town or some hippie neighborhood has become more paramount than serving the needs of all Americans.

I’ll be honest, on a personal level, I’m a registered Democrat. My parents were both liberals and at the age of 18, I thought, “why not?” I still hold some core values of the party’s platform but at this point, I would not at all say I’m a Democrat.

Social welfare is necessary, yes, there needs to be a solution to college not being affordable and the minimum wage remaining stagnant. However, I am not fond of the new mentality adopted by people now viewed as party leaders such as Bernie Sanders calling for the socialization of all resources and completely disregarding our nation’s debt that we will have to carry in the future, since more money will be borrowed from the Federal Reserve. Sure, taxation offsets some cost, but why tax my $6,000 a year income as a college student trying to make ends meet?

Republicans, on the other hand, have proven themselves even more despondent when it comes to having the best intentions for the public; i.e. continuing to downplay vital issues and struggles of the everyday man, however exaggerating even the most minimal crises. They have also not done a good job of distancing themselves from the somewhat accurate label that the party fails to offer new ideas under a tone of open-mindedness and flexibility with contrasting viewpoints.

It is a given fact that leaders in the past who have introduced bills in the past based solely on their party’s agenda without compromise only add to the static productivity in Congress that our country has been so plagued by since the end of the Clinton administration.

And once again, this results in the pseudo-revolutionists like our current presidential candidates pounding and pointing about real change to their direction and their order, is simply a more polarized version of their political affiliation.

Therefore, this leads to the question, who the %#$& do I vote for?

While our nation has been traditionally based on a two-party system, a third party option seems ideal, however unrealistic as proven in past years.

So, unfortunately, I am not able to tell you who to vote for as the key to America’s future, political moderation, is not possessed by any of the candidates.

When it comes to what we as a nation can practice and uphold, however, individuality (beliefs based on one’s own actual conscience and not party lines) and a careful reconsideration of political figures who seem to take the middle road is most ideal.