Firefighters save people, not bankers.

Why do we keep voting rich men into office?

It is funny who we place our trust in during this modern age of politics. Have you ever stopped to ask yourself, “Who is my congressman? Why did I vote for him? How do I vote for congressmen anyways? Congressmen are voted on???”

I know that as a teenage male who is just joining young adulthood (small step for man, large leap for boys cause of the different shoe sizes) that I know absolutely nothing about my Representative, let alone my Senator. California, and especially our metropolises such as Los Angeles, is the infamous land of democrats where even our biggest movie star’s mansions become hotel rooms for the President, and cause me to be half an hour late to school because of the damn traffic. I know I don’t have to be worried about my liberal views being represented in LA, I almost have come to expect it from the city that taught me nothing else in politics, but now I live in Ohio.

I live in Ohio.

Ohio, ohio, ohio. That is all the country hears once every four years and as this circus has reached a half cycle, the farthest in its rotation around the politcal sun that causes sensationalist journalism, I want to have enough ammunition for when it comes back around. The reason this midwestern state catchest the most attention during election season is because of the fact that people here are constantly evolving and changing. They see politics and are disillusioned and misinformed constantly and it is this man made evolution that is tearing apart the fabric of regional democracy.

Going to a liberal arts college, surrounded by a town of conservative Ohioans, does not help. In the sanctuary of Gambier, we live a recluse life of politics that would be shunned and looked down upon by the larger municipality of Mt. Vernon, although it is hard to think that their citizens would benefit from the tax cuts from the 1% seeing how many of the 1%-ers of the area all go to school in Gambier. So why are these people so against a political mindset that would work for their best interest? Why do people in the poorest areas of the United States that depend on what is now called a “moocher, welfare state” by their own representative keep voting for the men and women, but mostly white males, that disparage their lifestyles?

I love Fox News. It is so easy to blame them, after all, the fault does directly lie with our favorite conservatively biased cable news channel. The constant omissions of the truth and half truths told on that channel is enough to brainwash a good amount of the population of American citizens in my area, but that is not where I would lay the whole blame. Where is my representative? Why is someone not advocating for my/our rights in our area? Why do we vote for the politicians that follow the Fox News agenda?

I am frustrated. Frustrated that the democracy the Founding Fathers wanted came close to being true. The Fathers were also classist snobs and elitests, Ladies and Gentleman. They did not want any Jack or Jill or Jim or Jose or Lemichael or Susan to be politicians. They wanted the smartest of the richest of the Jack and Jills…well, Jacks to lead. Instead we went for the richest of the average intellectuals. As long as they have the money to finance a campaign and wave a paper that has Harvard/Yale/Princeton/Stanford on it, we trust them. We believe that they know what is right for us.

Democracy is dependent on trust, it is true. A trust in ourselves. A trust in the common man. The common man that can make a common vote for someone who can answer the needs that stem from a common problem. Sure, we have to deal with international affairs, and economic affiars, and environmental affairs. That is why we vote people in who have knowledge on that. But when it comes to our representatives for our area, this election season, we need to get to know them a little better. Know what they want to do, and who they want to do it for. Who is sponsoring them? But most importantly, know if you actually benefit from them being in office because quite frankly, the 1% benefits from just about any candidate, they will still be richer than the common man, but us common men and women need to see if we can get anything out of this deal as well.