Well, today is election day. I remember my first experience with a presidential election. I was in second grade. Bill Clinton was running against Bob Dole. The classroom full of seven year-olds cast their imaginary ballots. Personally, I went for Clinton. My reasoning was very complex, you see. Clinton had a pet dog, Dole did not. Today, who I vote for is based on reasoning that is a bit more sophisticated than my 7-year-old self. Going through law school, you gather a great respect for our Founding Fathers and the document so many people rarely think about-the Constitution.
Sadly, because this election season has been marred by scandal after scandal, it seems as though we have drifted away from the real issues. Instead, we are all focusing what idiotic thing Trump will say next or whether new emails will emerge to rock the Clinton camp. Never before have I witnessed such vehement posts on social media from both sides of the political line. “If you’re for Trump, you’re a racist.” “If you fall in with the Clinton camp, you’re a hypocrite.” Really? Come on America! The truth is that both candidates are imperfect people; both candidates are not ideal. Nonetheless, they are our presidential candidates, and these verbal political punches are taking us nowhere. Whoever wins, that is the person the country has spoken for. Being a divided nation will get us nowhere. My hope is that, once the winner is announced, there will be a peaceful turnover of power, just like when President Washington turned the presidency over to John Adams in 1797. May it be a happy election day.