I remember the 2008 Presidential Election vividly because of the way I became enamored with Barack Obama. His speeches during the campaign made a big impact on me, and because of this I became genuinely interested in learning about politics and social issues- this was a new experience for me. Since then I’ve never turned back. However, with this upcoming election, all I want to do is turn away from the news as I’ve become disinterested and bored about the constant display of hateful rhetoric and bigotry from the Republican Party. Instead of feeling hope and excitement about the election, I feel discouragement. Is this really the best we can do? While Clinton and Sanders both have their faults, they are two relatively sane and qualified opponents. The Republican frontrunners for the nomination on the other hand are just scary. These are men who speak about using torture and surveilling Muslim neighborhoods as if these are reasonable things to do. Really? Republicans, WTF?
I admit that the frontrunner, Donald Trump, was amusing to watch in the beginning. The way he mocked the 2008 Republican nominee, John McCain, by stating that he is only considered a war hero because he was caught and a POW was so unbelievable that for a long time I thought Trump was just pulling America’s leg. I reasoned that nobody really talks and thinks the way he does; he’s just putting on a show to get attention or gain viewers for his reality show (which I regrettably admit I was a fan of for a while… Joan Rivers yelling “You’re a pok-ah play-ah. A pok-ah play-ah!” to Annie Duke is arguably the highlight of the century). I assumed like many others he would go away. But now, after months of debates and town halls, now that he’s leading in the polls toward getting the Republican nomination, it is now fair to say that he is dead serious. And that scares the hell out of me.
Ted Cruz, the second favorite toward becoming the Republican nominee, is another kind of evil. Insisting on carpet bombing and surveilling Muslim communities to combat terrorism is not likely to win hearts and minds around the world. Even the way he speaks creeps me out. He’s like one of those crazy homicidal cult leaders who leads every one of their followers toward death because Jesus told him to do so.
I want there to be another formidable party in American politics because that is what makes democracy flourish: having more than one party, and having engaging dialogue about different approaches and beliefs on how to combat the issues Americans face on a day-to day-basis. But somehow during the last couple of years, the Republican party has turned toward promoting extremist policies that no Democrat can take seriously.
I don’t want to be someone who always states that one party, in this case the Democratic party, is always in the right- we all know that is complete bullshit. Just look at President Obama’s use of drone warfare and how it has increased under his presidency. The same goes for Hillary Clinton in regards to her voting for the Iraq War and how she is somewhat responsible for the vacuum in Libya after she advocating for regime change without any sensible planning of what would fill the void. No matter the candidate, I don’t agree with everything they say or do even if I support them. But how can I legitimately take the other side seriously and consider an alternative to the Democrats when the Republicans are openly batshit crazy?
Just in the last week, Donald Trump advocated for women to be punished in an interview with MSNBC’s Chris Matthews because they chose to have an abortion. Mind you, he says this while arrogantly stating, and having no sense of irony at all, that no one is more of a supporter of women than he is. Well, from all of us, I say thank you Donald. Where would we be without you on our side?
Right now, the Republican party has to put on their thinking hats, and really ask themselves: “Is this who we are now? Crazy old white men who engage in Twitter feuds about whose wife is hotter?” It’s safe to say that this party is not a sane alternative to the Democratic party anymore. It has been hijacked by sexist, racist, gun-crazy, faux-masculine extremists who are all about wanting to “take their country back.” Who or what is to blame for this break in sanity? Anger, fear, anxiety, a mixture of all three? I can’t really say, as it would involve a whole lot of time commitment and skill to figure out the exact reasoning behind this plaguing of our politics. I’m an English major after all, where a lacking of any type of real commitment and skill is essentially apart of the major requirements. All I know is that instead of being excited by a new election and president, I’m more defeated and detached by the whole process if either of these two cartoon villains can become the next President of the United States. To infuse the beautiful, and dare I say, utterly poetic language of my home state of California: this election is a real bummer.
Cover Image: DonkeyHotey, under Creative Commons Licensing
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