I am a millennial, but I think I speak for Americans of all ages when I say what we are all thinking: this election absolutely sucks.
I was very young during the 2008 election cycle but I’ve done enough research to recognize that the feelings of hope and optimism of that year have dissipated and been replaced with warmongering, deceit, division, and violence. Tensions seem to be at their highest in recent history, with relationships and friendships literally being ruined because of party affiliation.
As a young person this particularly worries me. Neither candidate represents me. I don’t believe either candidate cares much about me or anyone like me. “Vote for me because you’ll literally die if my opponent wins,” seems to be the go-to message for both sides. As a first time voter, the choices this year are especially upsetting. During the primaries I proudly cast my ballot, donning my “I Voted” sticker like a gold star. I was supporting a candidate who envisioned the country I want America to be- just, fair, and unified. My candidate did not receive the nomination- which I’d probably be less bitter about if the alternatives weren’t so undesirable.
On the right we have Donald Trump, a TV show host and beauty pageant aficionado who’s bankrupted 6 businesses and counting. He has zero experience holding public office and seems to be banking on xenophobia and jingoism getting him to the White House. The first debate on September 26 showed Trump in full form as he defended calling Rosie O’Donnell a “farm animal pig” and bragged about not paying his taxes.
We get no specifics from Trump, a man who:
-
refuses to apologize for spreading lies about President Obama’s birthplace, despite solid proof that he was born in the US.
-
was, along with his father, sued by the Justice Department for discriminating against African Americans in the housing market.
-
disrespects veterans, saying Senator John McCain is not a war hero because he was captured during Vietnam (Trump, unsurprisingly, has never served in the military, in any capacity).
-
represents the party of “family values”, yet openly cheated on his 1st wife and is now on marriage #3.
-
attacked the parents of a slain US soldier, implying that his mother wasn’t allowed to speak at the DNC because she is Muslim.
-
encouraged his supporters to beat protesters at his rallies and joked about murdering journalists.
-
believes climate change is a hoax created by the Chinese. (Yep…you read that right.)
-
repeatedly retweets white supremacists- see here, here, and here.
-
ignores the Supreme Court ruling of Roe v. Wade and supports “punishment” for women who choose to terminate their pregnancies.
-
enjoys objectifying and degrading women, as well as joking about having incestuous relations with his own daughter.
I could go on but I think I’ve made my point. Donald Trump has brought out the absolute worst parts of this country. He seems to be on a one-man-mission to bring the US back to an era when treating women and minorities as subhumans was the status quo. To have him elected to the highest and most respected office in the land would be detrimental to justice everywhere. The younger generation of Americans, especially, should be terrified of the regressive track a Trump presidency would put this nation on.
Secretary Hillary Clinton gives good talk, but her record contradicts her at almost every turn. She paints herself as a champion of racial justice, yet she supported the 1994 crime bill that devastated the African American community. She says she’ll be tough on the banks- the same banks who have given her more than $40 million since 2000. Her website claims she will combat climate change, yet she won’t support a ban on fracking. Today, she publicly attends gay pride parades, but up until 2013 she refused to support same-sex marriage. She voted for the disastrous war in Iraq. And let’s not forget the way she mocked Bernie Sanders supporters during the primaries, treating us like unruly children rather than citizens who care deeply about the direction of this country. Hillary Clinton calls herself “a progressive who likes to get things done”, which sounds pretty, but translates to “sell out” in my mind. As then-Senator Barack Obama said in 2008, “She’ll say anything, and change nothing”.
I, along with many others, will be forced to choose the lesser of two evils this November. While I would love to put my vote toward a Third Party candidate that I actually believe in, my residency in an extremely crucial battleground state forces me to choose no change over catastrophic change.
My message to my fellow millennials is this: do not become jaded, complacent, or apathetic. Get mad as hell. The future is in our hands. We now outnumber baby boomers. We have been handed pretty disappointing options for president but there are many ways to change the system. Get involved at the local and state levels. Vote during the midterm elections. Educate yourself and others on the important issues today. Never think that what’s going on in the world today doesn’t affect you, because it does. The system is built so that young people like us feel small- but we can fix that. Inspire change now so, one day, you can look back and know you stood on the right side of history.