As a newly turned 18 year-old prepared to vote for the first time a presidential election in November, I should be excited about casting my vote and picking a candidate to rally behind. Unfortunately, this election cycle has made me rethink the political state of America that I was so excited to join just months ago.
Admittedly, I hopped in the Bern’s bandwagon faster than you can say “Break up the big banks” back when he announced his campaign in early 2015. I saw him, ironically, as a new hope for young people in America, and while his platform and economic policies were not viable in the long-run, his promises stuck with me like the student loan debt that hundreds of thousands of students will acquire later this year. Free college tuition? Healthcare as a right, not a privilege? 15 dollar minimum wage? Criminal justice reform? “Heck yeah! Feel the Bern!” It really seemed that he was going to “Make America Great Again” (Don’t worry, we’ll get to the Toupee’d Tangerine in another article).
I ordered my free “Bernie 2016” bumper sticker and immediately stuck it on my car. It seemed to me that he really was the answer to many of America’s problems, but after weeks and weeks of spats with Hillary Clinton, something didn’t feel right. I realized that his campaign is nothing more than that of “The Donalds” without the bigotry/hate mongering/demagoguery and the unreleased tax returns. His promises were too good to be true, and instead of unifying both spectrums of the Democratic Party, he would rather keep fighting for attention and scratching at Clinton’s nomination that has essentially been in hand since last year, all while messing up on domestic and foreign policy issues in interviews. I couldn’t throw all of my support behind someone who wasn’t in it for the long haul of the Democratic Party.
On Clinton’s front, I honestly don’t know what to believe, wherein lies the problem. She was and continues to be the GOP’s biggest threat to their platform since before I was born and endured through countless goose chases (Benghazigate?, Emailgate?) but that is exactly where the issues come to life. While her criminal indictment is extremely unlikely, the recklessness she displayed with her emails and her response to the tragedy in Benghazi are two major stains on her honestly amazing presidential resume. Her experience as an elected official in New York, First Lady, and Secretary of State puts her far and above any presidential candidate on either side of the political spectrum. Unfortunately, in an election year where many young and old voters are looking for a real leader who can turn our country around, her almost robotic manner in which she presents herself is simply not as appealing as Larry David and that Naval Orange you left in your fridge for too long…er… Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump.
The truth of the matter is that there is no perfect candidate for president in 2016 on the GOP or Democratic side, and while eventually Clinton will put out the “Bern-wagon” with a glass of elitist 1 percent milk, it will have to be seen whether Sanders’ supporters head towards Clinton to unify or simply decide to fit the stereotype and not vote this election and wait for the next snake-oil salesman to come around with the miracle cure.
