Election Day: Voting for Dummies

Election day! It’s a unique day in America. It’s as common as a leap year; Less time consuming than choosing your next meal; And more impactful than your next IG post. And STILL, a large amount of people are not voting. And that’s fine! People fought for years for us to exercise the OPTION to vote. BUT, that isn’t an excuse to not educate yourself on what’s happening. You may have your own personal theory as to why voting holds little significance to you, but it won’t hurt to understand why the economy is where it is, or why the jail’s are over-populated, and what laws are preventing us from exercising our freedom. There’s a thin line between the laziness in people, and the one’s who are standing for something by not voting.

I come up with a lot of conspiracies for someone who isn’t deemed a conspiracy theorist. As an African American, I’m a firm believer in the lack of Black votes being a part of a bigger plan for this country to move in the direction of a republic rather than a democracy. It is even worse when the lack of votes come from laziness and ignorance. We’re just making their job easier. Truth is, from my experiences, a lot of the non-voters are those between 18–26 who aren’t homeowners, nor have a family of their own. So the last two presidents that we’ve grown up on haven’t had a direct effect on us just yet. None that we’re cognizant of, atleast.

I’ve followed the two likely candidates to the best of my ablility. Not pleased with either, however I’ve focused on which characteristics and approaches that most effect my life. Here’s a list….

Characteristics…

Hillary: Pros

1. Experience- Between First Lady and Secretary of State, she is the more experienced by far. (First Lady ’93–01; Senator ‘01–09; Sec of State ‘09–13)
2. Pro- women rights across the board (Rights to an abortion is a PLUS to many)
3. Pro African American Rights (Supports BLM and against Stop and Frisk)
4. She has clear and concise plans. You know what you are getting out of the Clintons. They are internationally accepted and have well documented history in the US.

Downfall

Mainly rooting from the outspoken opposing candidate, from her actions, she’s demonstrated Carelessness, Selfishness, and indecency.

Emails: When vowing yourself in to a government office, you’re essentially giving your private life up during your time being served. Because “essentially” is an ambiguous term, I consider her leaked email scandal is very Belichick-esque. Ultimately, FBI dropped the investigation, however it still shows her carelessness. Destroying the evidence (multiple devices) doesn’t help her case neither.

Clinton Foundation: There are a lot of questions regarding the foundation in Haiti. The selfishness is in question whenever a foundation is accused of taking 90% of the money, when it is suppose to be used directly for charities. To my knowledge, the story has never been set straight, but when accused of something that drastic, one eyebrow must be raised.

Bill Clinton: A LOT has been aired out since Trump’s sexual aggression allegations had come about, especially about Bill Clinton. First thing people say is, “Well, Bill is not the one running.” While that is true, one may ask, how can you trust someone with keeping the nation united but cannot keep a family in order. And on top of that, she threatens the accusers. It certainly is a mess on both sides. This shows indecency and terrible judgement.

Trump: Pros

1. He is not a “politician”; Meaning he often refrains from giving you lies and often says what he feels, but to a fault more often than not.
2. He is anti-abortion, or “Pro-Life” as he puts it. (Many on board, including myself)
3. Established businessman and “master” negotiator which can give him a slight edge over candidates with no business experience. He is very adamant about fixing our debt issues which has been an issue for years.
4. Adamant about re-structuring boarder patrols. (Stricter guidelines to follow for illegal immigrants; I don’t agree with his tactic but a lot do)

Downfall

“Grab them by the p — sy”: To address the elephant in the room, Trump is involved in his own scandal of being overly aggressive with women in his past. He was caught on tape admitting to some of his techniques on approaching “attractive” women. This comes as a disturbance to many, and is not your ideal characteristic in a President. Way to go after the women vote!

Build a Wall: He’s a radical. He is extremely extreme with a lot of his plans once he gets into office. His ideas on immigration are offensive to many and his descriptions of Clintons’ ideas are so inaccurate that it is misleading. He has made very derogatory comments towards hispanics (bad hombres), imitated a mentally challenged individual, AND publicly made jokes of Hillary Clinton’s health scare.

3 a.m Tweets: Donald Trump has been known for conversing with the people in many ways. Waking up at 3 a.m to answer a tweet is one of them. I am not sure what the deal with his PR person is, however, do we want somebody who reacts on impulse? Wouldn’t we rather someone who can rationalize and think situations through before acting. Be pro-active instead of re-active.

There are many reasons to not vote, but not caring about what is happening in front of our eyes is just unacceptable, especially when we are given the same tools as people who are politically aware. I am far from an avid follower of politics, however, I do think knowledge is power.

If you aren’t going to vote, just go out an understand what we are in to face for the next few years!