Chances are by now if you have any form of social media or means for communication, you know that the 2016 Presidential Election is a mess. And if this is coming as news to you, I’d recommend getting out from underneath of that rock more often. Now, I’m not politician or political science major so I would say take everything I say with a grain of salt.
I’ve seen rant after rant on Facebook and Twitter as well as popular news outlets containing either information about the election or opinions. I’d say I’ve come across more opinions than facts considering I’m basing my vote off of things that shouldn’t matter. I’d have to say one of my favorite comments would be, “everyone now thinks they know politics,” and it’s true. This election, like many others in the past, has stirred up the emotions of many people as well as plenty of unsolicited Facebook posts and tweets as well as memes for the various parties.
I myself have gone through and retweeted things based off of my opinions on the two candidates and as far as Facebook goes, I tend to share clips from Saturday Night Live and their interpretations of the debates. Does this make myself informed? No. In the end, all it is is giving myself a slice of satisfaction with a side of laughter in the nightmare that is American politics and this election. While this one has it’s differences and similarities to previous elections, I find that the one thing that remains true is that the opinions will always come out whether we want them to or not. And at the end of it all, who cares if I choose to get a little laughter out of the whole thing?
I know someone will read this and have an opinion and they might disagree with what I think. I know there are people that believe that social media is the perfect outlet for sharing political information and for staying “informed” and I can say that to some degree, I can concur. The first amendment in the US Constitution “guarantees freedoms concerning religion, expression, assembly, and the right to petition.It forbids Congress from both promoting one religion over others and also restricting an individual’s religious practices.It guarantees freedom of expression by prohibiting Congress from restricting the press or the rights of individuals to speak freely.It also guarantees the right of citizens to assemble peaceably and to petition their government.” Simply put: I’m allowed to write this, to have my opinions and so are you. If you want to post about Clinton, go for it. Trump? Go for it. Johnson? Go for it. Write-in candidates that you think would be better? Go for it. If you want to post about how much you don’t care about politics or this election? Go for it. That’s the beauty of the whole amendment, you have the right to free speech.
All of these things aside though, our posts, tweets, blogs, comments, replies, mentions, and so on, simply don’t matter. At the end of the day, will your Facebook post be the ultimate step to electing our next president? No. Will getting almost 100 retweets on your political opinion decide who gets to be president? No. Because at the end of it all, what value does your opinion have if you don’t vote? All of the bickering, discussions, comments, “I’m right, you’re wrong,” “vote for this person,” doesn’t matter if you don’t put it to good use. So please, post all you want and rant as much as you’d like but if you want to truly make a difference and impact the future of the United States, do yourself and all of us a favor and vote.
