The political season should not be the scariest thing about October, Halloween should hold that title. So why is it that every four years it is necessary to barricade your doors in preparation for what is the biggest zombie attack?
First off, being an educated an in informed voter is necessary. Voting for president is a constitutional right that should be used. Voting and having a say is probably the number one appeal of America. You can actively campaign for people you believe in, even if it is directly against those who are in power. In most places that would get you shot.
But the constant campaigning, it is maddening. The truth of the matter is that most people identify themselves by their own political standing, and no amount of campaigning will change their stance. Political campaigning is not about trying to convert Democrats into Republicans (or vice versa), it is about rallying the troops. And the main goal of the troops is to convert the independent and undecided voters.
The main way they do this is by being loud. Political rallies turn into tailgating parties full of cliques. And the motto of these types of rallies is, "If you're not with us, you're against us."
This political season has been different for me. For the first time, I am a registered voter. I am also an independent. So I'm screwed. Phone calls come regularly and predictably so thank God for the answering machine. But the phone calls are not the worst part of it all. No, the worst part is the door-to-door salesmen trying to convince you of why their politician is best.
Look, I get it, you think your person is so great that you just need to tell everyone who will listen. That's cool. But go do it in a park like the rest of the crazies. Don't stop by my house and ask me who I'm voting for.
My parents don't even know who I'm voting for, why would I tell you? And let's not pretend like it's an innocent wellness check. You guys aren't here to make sure I'm registered to vote. No, we know damn well that you pulled my voter data from the databases. You guys are here to make sure I'm registered to vote for your candidate.
The un-funfact in this post is this, every person who comes to my door makes me die inside. And I'm not alone in this thinking. The political season is rough on everyone who is an independent or undecided voter. If you're aligned with a party they count on your support. They give you the one phone call and your free complimentary yard sign.
As an independent voter I'm barraged with at least five calls a day. And once it gets closer to election day, two visits a day to my home won't be unusual.
These people are fanatics. They're obnoxious. And most times they're just downright rude. You don't get to come to my house to tell me who I should vote for. I will vote for whoever I want. If I was smart I would vote for whoever annoyed me the least over the political cycle.
Another un-funfact is that our democracy isn't a direct democracy. We are based off of the model of a epublic as well as a democracy. Our delegates of our state usually vote along the lines of our popular vote. But my vote as an individual does not always hold the consequences it should in this sort of system.
And to top off all of the un-funness, even if I elect your politician there's a 99% chance he (or she) will not accomplish a quarter of the tasks they set out to do.
Thanks to our series of checks and balances a Republican president won't be able to on push a Republican agenda. They have to go through Congress. And those same fanatics who come to your door and ask you to vote for their candidate, fail to mention that many of their candidate's ideas will never make it off the ground. Why are these people so willing to put all their energy on the line for a president, when he is only half of the decision making process?
No one campaigns like fanatics for your local senator or congressman because they don't want the notoriety. Thanks to a lack of term limits and being able to vote for your own pay raise, the incumbents will usually sit quietly out of campaigning. The incumbent usually wins these type of elections. That's because we have no clue what is actually going on.
Politicians promise us big things. We have become so desensitized to their promises that we praise them for doing the little things for us. Politicians could promise everyone in the U.S. a new car. Except that new car would be a matchbox car. An overwhelming majority of the people would have positive attitudes for that. We expected nothing and ended up with something.
Maybe being an independent makes me unpatriotic. After all, it is the "us against them" mantra that keeps this political system we have firing. Maybe I'm un-American. I should be grateful for this because in other countries you don't have a say.
But I'm not content with this. The political season sucks. I want better. We deserve better. How can we change it though? I have no clue. I'm not a political analyst, I'm just a college student with not enough time or money to ponder these sorts of questions. But until it changes, what is supposed to be a defining feature of our country, will be un-fun for me.
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