Southwestern College Collegian

Issue date: 3/26/08 Section: Personal Column

As recent debates and speeches for the presidential candidates have been going on, I thought back to when I was growing up. When I was younger I thought of politics as something completely different than it actually is. Watching TV lately, I have realized I grew up with the wrong idea in my head. I thought running for president meant showing the country what you believe in and what you want to change. What your goals are and why we should vote. You tell us your ideas to make this country better. It sounded simple enough to me. After watching debates on TV, I realized that running for president of the United States has nothing to do with what should be done for our country. It is all about who is better than whom, and who has done the worst things. It is pointing fingers and calling names. They cheat and they lie. The so called "adults" we are voting for act as if they are twelve years old. They argue back and forth about who did what in college. They try to dig up as much evidence against the other person as they can. Who cares? I know I don't. Of course they did stupid things while in college and high school, but doesn't everybody? Bill Clinton cheats on his wife and we say "impeach." What about past presidents? We did not impeach them in the same situation. America is hypocritical. We're pointing fingers again. Did he do good things for our country? You bet. So he has family problems, Shouldn't that be personal? Not in America. Bigger than the real issues. The drama of his personal life was way more important to people than anything else. Are these really the things we choose to look at when referring to our presidents? Did we not vote for him? Just like we voted for President Bush. All this complaining and pointing fingers at him for screwing things up that we're doing is ridiculous. What's wrong America? Do you not like who you voted for? Maybe we should have thought about that when voting. Recently, Hillary Clinton accused Barack Obama of plagiarism. It is true, he did not cite the source of part of one of his speeches, but his friend wrote the speech and insisted he use part of it. It was only a few short lines. No big deal. Quit trying to win by pointing fingers. Obama proceeded to apologize for not citing his speech. That should have been where this issue stopped. It wasn't. Obama then pointed the finger back at Hillary with a childish remark about using words he has used too, common words that everybody uses. Is this really what running for president is? Is this really what it comes down to? Maybe I should run too then. Maybe people like me will do a better job than these "adults." Then there is the issue about whether we will have a black president or a female president. Is that really as important as what they want to do to our country? Just because someone is black or female does not mean they will do better or worse than smoeone who is not. When you go to the voting booth to cast your ballot, these questions should be running through your mind: Do they feel the way I feel about the important issues? Do they want to help this country become better? It is no wonder our country is the way it is today. Do we not think about who we are voting for? We listen to what the candidates say about abortion and same sex marriage but when it comes to war and poverty do we even listen to their ideas? Can you tell me how each candidate feels about these issues without looking it up? Sometimes I just want to yell at the candidates, tell them to shut up and talk about all the issues, not about who did what. They think that making the other person look stupid will ensure them a vote because America won't vote for them. That is not the case when it comes to people like me. I am not voting for anyone. I am not registered to vote. I say, give me someone worth voting for. I am not a democrat. I am not a republican. I am just me. I believe what I believe, and I have yet to find that perfect candidate to believe in.

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