Election Year Is Playing Out Like A Bad Sitcom

Posted on February 25, 2016

This won’t surprise you in the least, but I identify as a Democrat. Allow me to say that I’m not a gung ho, die hard “OMG OMG GO GO GO GO Democrats!” kinda Democrat. I’m much quieter and, in all honesty, I’m not above voting for someone from a different party if I feel they’ll do the better job. Not all politicians are created equal; some of them even resemble human beings. And, okay, I rarely have many nice things to say about politicians. I’ll own that. All of this being said, I also have to own that voting for the next President of the United States is going to be a very, very, very easy decision for me. Have you been paying attention to all the annoying bullshit going on this year?

I’ve always enjoyed hearing a decent, intelligent debate of differing ideas between Republicans and Democrats when it comes to issues other than social issues. Not that I’ve heard one lately. My preference would be to choose a candidate on things other than social issues, only I don’t see that happening this time either. I’m a voter, but I’m also a voter who happens to be gay and who happens to have a legal same-sex spouse. The candidates in the Republican Party have vowed to take back my right to be married to this man. Oh, I can get married, but it has to be to someone of the opposite sex. This is typically when I stop listening to those candidates, not a positive thing.

There seems to be a bigger issue too, one where those running for the Republican Party want to lessen the separation between church and state. “The United States was founded as a Christian nation.” This confuses me. It was founded with a separation between church and state. Religion was not to dictate how we lived our lives. Now, if you want to say that we are a country with people who want to bring good will to the rest of the world, help during disasters, and save lives by sharing technology and medical advancements, fine. That to me is a way of saying we’re a Christian nation.

But we don’t have a population who all identify as Christian. It’s part of what makes the United States a melting pot. And the current candidates have done a decent job of pitting those who identify as Christian against those who don’t…or who aren’t wanted by organized religion, mostly because of the whole marriage equality thing.

I’ll be honest with something else here too; I won’t vote for Donald Trump. Yes, I feel his shaking up the Party is exactly what it needed, especially after what the Tea Party has done to the Republican Party. But beyond that? He is one of the least classiest people I’ve ever had the displeasure to watch on a television screen. I can’t imagine him being less than a major embarrassment when dealing with the rest of the world.

Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio? One may not be legally qualified to run for President and the other seems to be the only one who believes himself “uniquely qualified” to run since voters sure don’t. Cruz appears to have a likeability issue and a severe disdain for being corrected when he states an untruth…and keeps stating an untruth. And Rubio? Aside from not liking gays, he’s not exactly making any friends on women’s issues either.

Then, on the opposite side of the fence, we have Hilary and Bernie. My mother has already stated she won’t vote for Hillary, though she admits if it comes down to being between Hillary and Trump (if Bernie doesn’t get the Democratic nomination), she would. Me? I will at this point vote for the Democratic candidate and have no reservations about it. Hillary doesn’t bother me—maybe she should, but she doesn’t—and Bernie would be okay. Yeah, I know. I actually just used the word ‘okay’ there. No matter what Bernie does, I still think he’ll screw up less than Trump, Cruz, or Rubio.

It strikes me as funny. I remember being in grade school and hearing about how exciting it would be one day when we’d all get to vote on who leads the country and represents us. Never in a thousand years do I think my teachers could ever imagine the people running these days. It’s playing out like a bad sitcom.

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Kristoffer Gair (who formerly wrote under the pseudonym Kage Alan) is the Detroit-based author of Honor Unbound, A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To My Sexual Orientation, Andy Stevenson Vs. The Lord Of The Loins, Gaylias: Operation Thunderspell, several short stories featured in anthologies (to be combined in a forthcoming book), the recently re-published novella Falling Awake, its sequel, Falling Awake II: Revenant and Falling Awake III: Requiem.

One Response to “Election Year Is Playing Out Like A Bad Sitcom”

Eddie Lam says:
February 26, 2016 at 12:32 am
I stop watching/hearing the Republican debate. It only makes me mad and think they are stupid and ignorant. Most of them are extremist. They only blah blah blah and never get a damn thing done. Just wasting our money and time. We need a government that can get things done – be productive. Donald Trump? He is a joke. We would go to war if he elects as president.

I am lucky to be a citizen and has the right to vote. Voting for republican never an option for me.

But Kris, you don’t need to worry about they may take away our same sex marriage right. They can never do it once it pass as law. Once we have the right, they can never take it away.

2016 election will be an interesting competition. We shall seeeeeee