The Clown Show

July 12, 1804. Alexander Hamilton died following the aftermath of a conflict between two politicians. Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr can be seen as two sides of the same coin. A necessity in politics, and an attempt to balance the will of the people and the laws that govern their lives.  They decided to settle their differences in an honorable fashion by dueling. American politics have become more civil since that time.

It's election year, and once again, we are all invited to attend the circus as candidates try and win our hearts and votes. This election season promises to be a good one. Sexism, racism, narcissism and xenophobia, and that’s just from one candidate. So, where did these candidates come from and how were they selected? In order to better understand maybe we should first examine the requirements for POTUS:

-       a natural born Citizen

-       at least 35 years of age

-       have been a resident of the US for 14 years

So how do Americans decide whom to nominate with so many “qualified” people living in the US? They don’t. The political parties do. Members of those parties nominate themselves, and spend about a year trying to prove that they are the best person to represent this nation. This, in turn, causes candidates to push their agendas further in the direction of their respected party with no regard for their own beliefs. For example, when Hillary Clinton held the position of Secretary of State she once stated, “natural gas is the cleanest fossil fuel available for power generation today.” After presidential candidate, Senator Bernie Sanders, made it clear that he was against fracking, Hillary Clinton began to change her stance to better suit the voice of the liberal voters she hopes to win over. Senator Ted Cruz hopes to put US jobs back in the hands of US citizens and lower crime by building a better wall on the US/Mexico border and tripling border security. However, during his presidential announcement speech, he tells a story of a Cuban immigrant who moved to Austin, TX, worked for 50 cents an hour and “drank too much”. He was talking about his father.

While trying to convince the public of their agendas, these candidates seem to have created a rippling conflict with people of their own political party as well as their party’s opposition. Supporters of Senator Bernie Sanders have interrupted rallies for Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. Donald Trump supporters have violated and have been violated by some of these protesters. Also, Donald Trump has declared war on Senator Ted Cruz’s wife for some reason. Why is this happening? Because we love it. Americans love conflict. Trying to have a centralized view of important topics and discuss them with reason is BORING. People love to see those “Housewives” talk trash and throw wine in each other’s face. We troll websites and leave hateful comments. We love conflict with no regard to why it’s happening. Unfortunately, this is the real reason the left and right are shifting further apart. Politicians are trying to appeal to our conflict-loving nature while staying on their side of the political spectrum. With this in mind, it’s hard to believe anything that’s being said. We have to cool our jets and stop being so “angry” at the left or “angry” at the right. All eligible voters are adults and should act accordingly.  We’re never going to get anywhere when the angriest candidate seems to be the best choice for POTUS.

In my opinion, this entire election season is deplorable. If we are not willing to discuss topics with calm and reason, then we should at least be honest about what we really want to see. Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders taking ten paces, turning around and firing. It was considered honorable in 1804 and is definitely more honorable than what is happening this election season.