By Parker Ward
We are experiencing one of the weirdest presidential elections this country has ever seen.
That’s not coming from someone who’s covered politics for 30 years or someone who was old enough to vote the last time a Clinton was on the ballot. I’m 20 years old and will be voting in my first presidential election Nov. 8.
I still have a long way to go in figuring out politics, but I now see that this whole election is a weird mix of emotion with the climax coming on Election Day. Only thing is, those emotions are overshadowing any logic and facts.
Between both candidates, it feels like there are enough scandals and moral ambiguity to make the election seem like Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton were running for president.
Has every election become a smorgasbord of poisons to pick from? It’s weird that out of the hundreds of millions of people in America, the four nominated for president seem to be wholly unfit for the job.
The politics of today are far too polarizing. Growing up, I thought the government was supposed to the be the best and brightest that America had to offer, but it has turned into two parties at a standstill, not letting the country flourish through new legislation.
I truly believe there is hope for our government. But if we cannot avoid petty political squabbles and let members of different parties come together to create legislation that helps America as a whole, we will never move into the future. That begins with ending the hateful and incendiary rhetoric that is turning us back into angry mobs rife with pitchforks and torches.
Case in point: the recent firebombing of a GOP office in North Carolina. Politicians are always quick to send support through social media when terrible things like this occur. The two candidates had very different responses.
Hillary Clinton’s response was simple. She said through her official Twitter page, “The attack on the Orange County [GOP] HQ office is horrific and unacceptable. Very grateful that everyone is safe.” The North Carolina GOP even thanked her for the tweet.
Flip the script and you’ll find that Donald Trump’s Twitter response of “Animals representing Hillary Clinton and Dems in North Carolina just firebombed our office in Orange County because we are winning” is exactly what we do not need.
It seems like he is more worried about getting people riled up against each other than showing why he would make a good candidate for the White House. He’s pitting the two parties against each other when we need unity.
Though these responses seem relatively simple, they reveal two forms of politics.
As I distract myself until this election cycle passes, I hope one day we can finally have an election where it feels like choosing between our favorite ice-cream flavors and not choosing between less desirable items like Brussels sprouts and garbanzo beans.
