Why Politicians Don’t Have the Ability to Make Change

Hillary Clinton is my candidate of choice in the 2016 presidential election. Her career has been illustrious, she has more experience working in politics and government than all of the other candidates combined as well as a pragmatic approach to working on foreign relations. I also personally find her engagements with the public grounded and humanizing as a figurehead. She’s a woman who has worked her entire life to make it to this point-on the edge of greatness, becoming the Democratic nominee and hopefully the first female President of the United States of America. This is a point that should have been reached years before and if she is the first in a long line women who can lead this country down the road I could think of no one better person to begin that lineage. Although I don’t envision for myself a future in the United States, I still believe in voting while I can as a citizen thinking idealistically that it will make a difference in any interpretation of history we create moving forward.

It’s not just American politics I’m embittered about, I don’t believe that politicians today can make the large strides in society we wish they could in the four short years given to carry out their agendas. The leaders we elect in any first world country are foremost a representation of our ideals–whether they paint our society in a positive or negative light. If Hillary Clinton is elected, we are seen as continuing on with a liberal democracy while breaking a dozen glass ceilings along the way. With Bernie Sanders as president, Americans would make a definite stance that the culture has moved  away from corporate finance favoring grassroots ideologies pushing forth a  new socialist economy. Should Trump make it to the Oval Office…well we’ll certainly seem brazen and root a mass international opinion that Americans perhaps shouldn’t be given so many freedoms if they can’t put them forward for a worthwhile cause.

Countries that have the privilege of a democracy where there exists a free vote exist with a weight on their shoulders to take a stance through their candidates in order to showcase the archetypes of who they believe reflects best the foundations of their society. Its not a chance for anyone to take the podium and run wild with power. Anyone can be president; that’s not a belief I shrug off as a coveted position only for the elite. A working class citizen should have the same opportunities given to the heir of a dynasty, just as their country should provide for each and every individual the resources to achieve their full potential.

Unfortunately that’s not a reality for much of the world. At the very least, a serious candidate should have a thorough background in law, government, the economy, foreign policy and a depth of knowledge that can assist them in this position given any set of circumstances. That includes not pushing candidates ahead based on their gender, wealth, or  religion. Some of these traits, that hold no bearing on whether an individual has the resources necessary to take on such a gargantuan role, redeem character and others create bias.

While there exists in America a supposed separation of church and state, it rarely ever stays that way. Potential candidates are made to mention God, the Bible, a Higher Power to make their speeches and declarations resound with this primarily Christian nation to increase their accessibility. Conservative voters work to identify candidates focused on traditional family values who will either damn women who seek abortions, promote a healthy gun culture, and blame real economic concerns on immigration. Issues that affect millions of civilians such as reform to healthcare, reproductive care, equal pay, and paid leave are pushed to the side in favor of matters of faith. I want to hear less about the Church and more about how to protect American lives from the corrupt criminal justice system, firearms, and financial despair. The language employed by politicians is tailored to a general public who does not want to engage with discourse on how to make this country truly great, but how we can live up to a standard of desensitized power and traditional masculinity that no longer serves us. We are not living in a time where our horses and battalions are the only thing that stand between a wasteland or a Free Republic. We’ve won our independence but we haven’t elevated our consciousness in two hundred years far beyond where we initially started.

Great Britain’s political agenda is less concerned with sensationalized stories, preferring to stick to combative discussion on how leaders can move society as a whole further in progress. Politics are not perfect and less than professional conduct always makes for a good news headline. However, the general outrage at the existence of parties such as UKIP reinforces the position that liberal politics, even in a conservatively liberal stance far outweigh any far-right extremist candidates from being legitimately put on the ballot.

The largest issue facing currently the British public is how to vote in the Brexit–the vote that has been making a clear divide between parties on whether or not to remain in the European Union. No MP is claiming that the immigrants are “thieves and rapists” in their call for voters like in the U.S. They are taking into account the refugee crisis, an already busting benefits program, the economy, and the probability of terrorism (if any) of ISIS supporters slipping through the cracks in immigration screening. Even viewed in the most optimistic light, serious consideration has to be taken into account when deciding whether or not being cohesive with the EU is really serving the British public anymore. From their vote there will come a decision. The vote will help to determine a course of action that won’t sit for years in the House of Representatives. waiting for review.

Even when looking at the recent non-starter where members of the Supreme Court could not find consensus on whether employers should make birth control and reproductive resources available through company insurance providers the struggle is real. Coming to a standstill with the issue ending undecided, the bills have gone back down to subservient courts to wait for approval where the Supreme Court is sure lower judiciary systems can “figure it out for themselves.” This cannot be accepted as a common occurrence but it’s become a normalized view on the stagnation of American politics where progress is repeatedly stilted. Americans come to  crossroads in their values and philosophies unable to move past what makes them different than to reason a compromise.

What we are really craving is a political system where the leaders elected make significant strides while in office. Instead we see that the figureheads we spend months analyzing, tearing to pieces, and viciously gutting in the press are only the projections we’ve placed on their actual abilities to lead. In the United States, common sense gets pushed to the back burner where the focus strays continually from ensuring civilian safety and rights are not a prominent subject favoring instead frivolous topics that have no place in an election. A due process from the American people that supports one candidate above all and is willing to work with them to conduct change efficiently in all areas of government. We want to see that our votes were not wasted and to put an end to having the prime reason for political media coverage become its own worst reality show. We have the ability to make our votes count towards the ideals we want now, not at the end of four or eight years. Let’s make these votes count with the promise that we’ll all do better next time.