Throughout the Primary elections of 2016 for the Office of the President, candidates have been blasting each other with insinuations, dirty politics, and inflammatory rhetoric. This is taking place on the Democrat side as well as the Republican side of the race. Some of the attacks have been fact based while others are something that had to be dreamt up by some two year old that everyone got a chuckle out of. Most of it has been covered in the Main Stream Media with their various slants either for or against it and of course with their bias-isms in full view for all to hear and read.
The voter, you remember him/her, the ones that pull the lever or make their mark are the final say in how a candidate is doing or how he/she is favored. It is you, America, that has to muddle through all the trash and truth that has hit the news and social media to make the decision you feel is best for you. On Social Media this has to be one of the most nasty and contentious election years on record. Yes, even out doing the elections of the 1950's and 1960's. Ads of total destruction, loss of morality, loss of freedoms and especially those that tout who will have their finger on the almighty button. The Democrat party has had a fairly inauspicious race with just two candidates making the run. One is a long time Senator who has been in politics for over 20 years and declares himself a Socialist. The other has served as the First Lady, a Senator, a failed Presidential Candidate and somewhat contested term as Secretary of State. Though both run on the party ticket, their positions on the issues are as far left and right as they could get for that Party. Who would have thought that after 40+ states there would still be two candidates in the race.
On the other side of the aisle, the Republican side, it started out with 17 candidates. There were Senators, former senators, governors and former governors and one real-estate mogul. Through the debates and the states primaries they started falling to the wayside one by one. Then it came down to four candidates, then three and finally just one. The real-estate mogul. There are a variety of feelings toward the sole runner for the Republican nominee. Some feel he is on the road of destroying the party. Some feel that he is the only one that can bring the party together. All-be-it with a major reconstructing of the party. Some feel that their particular candidate was cheated out of their run for the presidency. Some feel that the difference between the candidates, in the overall perspective, weren't that much apart. But regardless of where their favorite is now is due to the voting of the American populace, one party is on the verge of declaring their nominee and the other party (through what some call dishonest manipulation) is preparing to claim theirs.
Many in both parties have had it with the rank-in-file in Washington D.C. Feeling that they have been rejected by the party elites. And in so many ways rightly so. For the first time in American history, a black man was elected to the highest office in the land eight years ago. He came promising to change the fundamentals that the country was founded on and built on for over two hundred years. Though many will make challenge on which way this president has taken America, both parties are tired of the non effective workings going on in the nations capital. And it has played hard on the voters as to what direction the country needs to go or should go as most feel it is headed in the wrong direction.
The next four to eight years falls upon the shoulders of the American people. Regardless of your party affiliation or which candidate sounds best to you, you, yes you, will be totally responsible for the future of our country. Will America rise up from the ashes of the last eight years? Will we maintain our military presence around the world, even though we are at the lowest count in military numbers since before World War II? Will the country become the strong nation that it once was; that was respected around the world as the leader in democracy? Or will it continue as many see it as becoming less and less of a leader in the world. The final tally will fall on the shoulders of the American people. Regardless of which party you belong to. Regardless of what you might think of the nominee for your party, failure to vote will negate your right to voice an opinion of the outcome. For those that sit on the sidelines and do nothing have nothing to complain about.
As an American citizen, I will vote. I will vote for the candidate I feel is best for the country. I encourage all Americans to not sit out this election year. As it just could be the final vote of a free society. Does that sound a little dramatic? If it does, I would encourage you to think about it a little harder and take off the blinders of your party and vote with your brain and heart. Right or Left the call is yours and yours alone.
