Revisiting the Presidential Race: Get Out and Vote Your Conscience!

The most powerful position in our world today is President of the United States of America. As I’m sure you all know, we are currently nearing the end of the 2016 Presidential Race. For those of us who have interest in this subject, now can be a very frustrating time, but it can also be a very exciting time: to help campaign for our favorite candidate, to re-think our political views, and of course, to watch the Presidential Debates. As time has gone on, many of us are still undecided on who to vote for, and others have more than made up their minds. Today I’d like to talk a little bit about the Presidential Race and what’s wrong with it, but especially about voter awareness. According to the Bipartisan Policy Center, only 58% of voter-age Americans voted in 2012, and that’s only the beginning of the problem. The foundation of this country is We the People. If each of us as individuals refuse to take action and become aware of our awful situation, our freedoms will be taken from us. 

Now, as I speak today, you’ll probably notice that I have very strong political opinions and that I’m very passionate about this subject. If you don’t agree with me on some points, I’m okay with that. I’m just hoping to inspire you to go out and get educated for yourself so that America may see a brighter future.

First, I want to talk a little bit about Bernie Sanders. To me, it’s kind of insane and frankly scary that a socialist got any support as a presidential candidate in this country, but a lot of Americans believed that he was the answer. Why in the world would America support the very thing that we fought against only one or two generations ago? Have we forgotten already? How could we embrace what thousands of our fathers and grandfathers gave their very lives to keep us safe from? Socialism is evil, and that is the truth! If you disagree, you are disregarding the history of the human race! The problem is that the dangers of socialism and its history are not taught in schools, so kids aren’t being raised to know the truth, and on top of that, we are so caught up in things like pop culture and sports and entertainment that we don’t care to take the time to seek out the truth for ourselves.

Let me give you an example here of an ignorant and apathetic American. Awhile ago I was discussing the Presidential Race with a close friend of mine. I inquired who he supported out of the candidates, and he told me that he believed Bernie Sanders was the best candidate for the job. When I asked him why, he didn’t have a very good answer. He told me that he thought that Sanders was one of the only candidates who would actually do something in office. But the main reason he gave for supporting Bernie Sanders was this: that his parents are Democrats, and so he believes that he has to choose one of the Democratic candidates to give his support.

This battle has been dividing our country for far too long

Now, this friend of mine isn’t even old enough to vote in the 2016 Election, so obviously, who he supports doesn’t really apply at this point in time. But to me, this was a very interesting reflection of the American people as a whole, and especially of the rising generation. We have got to get out of this division. We are the United States of America, but we are not united because the biggest battle that is going on right now in this nation is the Republicans versus the Democrats. We have got to get out of this mindset that you either have to be on one side or the other when it comes to party candidates. The truth is: it doesn’t matter whether a politician calls himself a Republican or a Democrat. In our world today, party status does not determine political belief or policy. It sure used to be that way, but even though each party platform lists the beliefs of each party respectively, very few politicians regard those platforms today. Washington is full of wolves in sheep’s clothing. We need to start looking at each candidate individually and researching his political beliefs and policy. I don’t care if Bernie Sanders ran for president as a Republican, I still would never support him, and honestly he doesn’t even belong on the Democratic side either, and he shouldn’t belong in America. He doesn’t believe in the principles this nation was built on, and as president, he would finish the job of ripping the constitution to shreds. I believe that even Donald Trump is running on the conservative platform because he knows that he’s going to get more support that way, and not at all because he necessarily believes in conservative principles or would implement them as president. Whether someone calls himself a Republican or a Democrat should not be a deciding factor in an election.

Another person I’d like to mention here is Kanye West. The world-famous hip-hop artist announced last year that he would be running for president in 2020. We all know that this is nothing but a joke, but the saddest thing is how many votes he would actually get if he ran in four years. Didn’t we think that Donald Trump was a joke when he first announced that he was running for president? But that’s the thing: the presidential election has become a joke. People think it would be interesting to make someone with the temperament of Donald Trump the president, so they do it. They think it would be cool to have an African-American or a woman as the president, so they vote them in, regardless of other factors! And I’m not saying Kanye is a joke because he’s a rapper; I don’t believe that the office of President is for politicians and lawyers only. I’m saying that Kanye is a joke because of his agenda (which is evident in his music), his ego, and most importantly, his character. Character is the number one factor that should be looked at when choosing a president, because it is so vital in our world today to have someone in the White House who will use his time to serve the American people rather than serving himself.

But despite all the bureaucrats and the politicians and the celebrities, my concern all comes back to the American people. We are in control, but as a whole, we don’t realize how much power we have. I was 13 years old on Election Day in 2012, and I remember walking into a Papa Murphy’s to pick up a pizza for dinner with my dad on that day. As we were waiting in line, the lady in front of us asked the cashier who he was going to vote for, and the cashier responded that he wasn’t sure yet, but he was leaning towards voting for Obama. This was on Election Day. The cashier wasn’t sure who he was voting for on Election Day. The most disturbing part of this encounter to me was that the cashier was “leaning towards” voting for President Obama. From my perspective, the cashier was treating this decision as something of little worth; something that didn’t affect his life. He was treating it as a formality, when in reality he didn’t realize that electing a good president is not only his right as an American, but his duty. Earlier today I stated “for those of us who have interest in this subject...” but I firmly believe that it doesn’t matter if you’re interested in government or not. If you have freedom, you have a solemn duty to protect and uphold it, and if you don’t fulfill that duty, you don’t deserve that freedom. I often see comments on political social media posts like “Ew, politics” or “I’ve never really been into government” and it’s ridiculous! Once again, if you don’t even care to understand how to keep and value your freedom, you deserve to be in slavery. And unless individuals like these get their acts together, mark my words; they will one day be in chains wishing they had valued freedom back when they possessed it.

The person who we elect as president will change our lives
and the lives of our posterity

To sum it up: America as a whole acts like the election process is a very exciting thing, and we express and discuss our political opinions with our friends and neighbors as citizens of a free nation should do. However, we treat the presidential election the same as we would treat the Olympics or the Super Bowl (and perhaps for some of us, we treat it even less so). We neglect the fact that the person who we elect as president will not only change our lives, but the lives of our posterity. The team that wins the Super Bowl will not affect our lives at all. We don’t realize how much power we are investing in one person when we go into the polls on Election Day. What I see today is an ignorant and apathetic American people who do not realize the role that they play in their government. And if we can’t get ourselves together, our liberty will be taken from us.

However, there is hope. Many, many Americans really do care and really are educated, and they are fighting and trying their best to secure a better nation. We can all do better, though, because we’ve still got a long way to go. Become more educated. Contact your legislators. Try your best to change what is wrong. Study the candidates. Pray for America. Please, please try your best to do what you can to heal our wounded nation. Let us all have faith that if we Americans can get outside of ourselves and take charge of our government, if we can become the masters over the government instead of the servants under it, and if we can become a literate people in the Constitution to tell our government how it should be run, then we can once again ensure that government of the people, by the people, and for the people shall not perish from the Earth.