To say that my interest in voting is at an all-time low is an understatement. I have no interest in voting for a sexist, racist, tax evading, sliver-spoon businessman with no political experience, and who has openly admitted to being sexually attracted to his own daughter as president of the country I inhabit.
However, as much as I abhor the idea Donald Trump taking the presidency, I am also not fond of Hillary Clinton running the country since she’s known to have hidden emails of national importance, lied to the public, and sent classified information through her personal server. I don’t want someone who could be a criminal to become president.
Obvious faults aside, there’s also the matter of actual policies and future plans discussed. The latter facts are enough to deter my vote alone, but there are things being said by these candidates that are concerning, if not downright frightening. If he wins, Trump wants to build a wall to keep immigrants out. Let’s think about this for a minute. So basically, he means to say that he wants to crumble the entire historical origins (given Americans are all technically immigrants) and moral aptitude of a country whose international influences he clearly knows nothing about. So not only is he a bigot and a sexist, he’s a hypocrite. Isolating the country to get control over racial majority sure sounds like Nazi Germany to me, and frankly, I wouldn’t have wanted to live there.
Simply because of how ridiculous Trump’s campaign represents itself, I can see why some people might want to settle on Hillary, but I’m not drinking the Kool-Aid. Clinton’s campaign has been sketchy from the start. It all reads like a bad episode of Secrets and Lies. There’s nothing you can trust about this woman. Not to mention, we were all there when she helped her husband cover multiple sexual assault charges. So even if you want to jump the feminist bandwagon, you might want to skip this one if you’ve been doing your homework. I get why people would be conned to look the other way when it comes to Hillary, anything seems better when compared to Trump.
Apparently, I’m not alone in my disappointment. According to researchers at The Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement, young people make up 31 percent of the overall electorate. Generally, only half that amount actually vote. Youth between 18-24 only make up barely 20 percent of voters this year. The Huffington Post also suggests youth voting has reduced substantially in 2016. I think the data speaks for itself. Something, aside from misguided apathy, is at play here. Young voters aren’t stupid, it’s very likely they aren’t voting for a reason.
Stephen Parato, a contributor for Waking Times, says, “I choose not to vote, not out of ignorance, nor out of apathy, but out of noncompliance with a broken, fundamentally corrupt and laughably ineffective system. … Peaceful resistance is the only way to create positive, lasting change.’
Overall, this year’s election feels like a waste of a political system. I refuse to take part in America’s own self-destruction.