The next few paragraphs are going to get a little political, so if you want to skip it, power to you! We'll be back to our regularly scheduled programing about my excitingly dull life next week.
A few weeks ago, I registered to vote for the first time. I'm almost 25. Due to my state's policies, I don't believe my presidential vote counts for anything, and that makes me sad. This is the first election I've ever paid attention to. I watched the convention and the debates, looked up information about the candidates, read the fact check articles (from NYT and USAToday) after debates and speeches, and looked into how voting actually works so that I had a better understand of how our government operates (high school did a crap job of that). But why now? Why am I suddenly interested in politics.
This election has been a circus. Hate is being spewed like lose change, mud is being thrown and every other day there seems to be a scandal. Real issues, many involving women and their rights are being talked about. Things that impact me. Because of this, everyone is picking sides and leaving America in the middle like a child being tossed between divorcing parents. The news reports, debates and other information is making me question what is happening to our world and to be honest, it's terrifying. In my opinion, there is a clear winner, but no one LOVES either candidate. No one has said "Yep, they're going to be the greatest president ever!", but isn't that the way it's always been? Have we ever truly, 100% agreed with any politician? No. We're not wired that way. We're not supposed to agree or like everything about anyone! Now before you tell me I'm wrong, think about your spouse/significant other. Do you love EVERYTHING about them? Probably not, and that's okay. You learned to love them with their faults anyway.
Thinking about it, I think the reason people get so angered and fired up about politics is because it is change and we are not wired to like change. As humans we need routine and consistency. It makes us feel safe. Choosing a new public figure for the free world is a major change! We don't know how to handle it, so we freak out.
One question that I've had for a while is why aren't we having debates with (at least televised ones) and fighting over our house, senate and congress representatives? They're the ones with the most power in this equation. They can make or break a law/bill depending on their mood or need for a temper-tantrum.
The election is almost over (thankfully!) and then we can go back to our lives of hearing about the representatives and senators fighting over who has the talking stick. I don't know about you, but I'm going to spend the next few weeks getting to know and understand these candidates. They're the ones who are going to make real change.
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