10 Things the 2016 Presidential Election Won’t Change

10 things the 2016 presidential election

10 things the 2016 presidential election

It is still 2015, right?

For me, it’s very hard to tell since I am bombarded on a daily basis by the 2016 Presidential election news. You would think we were just a couple months away from choosing a new POTUS when in actuality we are still a year away.

2016 democratic presidential candidatesTV news channels can’t help themselves but ramp up the election drama, especially on slow news days. Unless there is a hot blond who just hacked her wealthy husband up into little pieces, FOX News, CNN, and MSNBC are going to be talking about the various candidates on a daily basis.

Full disclosure. I watch very little news and read very little political news anymore. There was a time when I filled my week up with about 15 hours of news talk radio and podcasts.

I found myself getting so angry that I had to cut that out of my universe.

I decided it was unhealthy to worry about what this crooked politician was doing as opposed that other shady representative over there. No point in me getting riled up over a political system that I had very little control over.

Voting you say? I feel nothing but pity for the folks who believe voting makes any difference whatsoever on a national level.

Call me jaded or bitter (I am), but what evidence can you show that national elections have turned things around?

Sure this law got passed, and this other one got struck down. The details may change by a certain politician’s actions,  but what has actually changed as a result of candidate A getting in office over candidate B?

Is your life better after four years of Obama?

Was your life a wreck before George W. Bush took office, then you magically turned things around once he became Prez?

Politics is so much like sports it has become utterly ridiculous. The two party system is to blame for most of that. You have the Republicans on one side and Democrats on the other, championing (I call it exploiting) the causes of their followers.

The voting public that shows up to political rallies looks very similar to shirtless NFL fans with face paint on, waving a banner for their team. These diehard voters are all in on the candidates they believe can change things for the better.

I’m all for hope and inspirational leaders, I just can’t help but ask the same question again. What has changed as a result of the last few Presidential elections? Is your life better? Do you believe your children’s lives will be better than yours currently?

And maybe most importantly, are we headed in the right direction as a nation?

That last one’s a doozy since we have 318 million different opinions on what the right direction looks like.

I have no idea who will end up in the White House in 2016. All these polls are useless with 12 months to go until the real voting starts. Hillary Clinton looks strong obviously, and Donald Trump has more staying power than I would have ever believed possible.

2016 republican candidates presidentThe rest of the gangly group of possible Commanders in Chief have their own merits I suppose, and a couple will find themselves in the mix as time winds down on this circus.

Since our attention spans as Americans are pretty pathetic, I’m going to summarize the 2016 Presidential election with a top ten list. Oh, this is too important a topic for a catchy list, you say?

No, it’s really not. The topic is stupid.

The result of the election will be the same as if Obama just never moved out of the White House or George W. Bush moved back in for another eight years.

We are in for more of the same. As long as we citizens accept the two-party system is the only way to go in America, there will be no positive change. We are living in a connected digital age where thoughts can’t be suppressed by the powers that be much longer. That power structure is hanging on for dear life and as citizens we just have to find a better way to run the country.

Old men in suits making laws when they aren’t on month long vacations has to end eventually. How long will Americans accept rulers put in place by men over 200 years ago that could not fathom the creation of an iPhone, the internet, or just simply chatting online with someone in Asia?

donald trump gunSo to wrap up my thoughts on the 2016 Presidential election, here’s a list of things that will not change as a result.

  1. Citizens will continue to buy the American Dream even though that is clearly a fantasy now. Pensions have all but disappeared. More than half of couples end up divorced long before they pay off that ridiculous 30-year mortgage. And that “free” education has turned into a ball and chain for many college graduates.
  1. The news media will continue to make political judgments based on the letter beside the candidate’s name. You would think an impartial media would judge representatives by their actions. That’s hilarious!
  1. Corruption in U.S. Government will never get better in this system no matter who is bouncing around in Air Force I. Too much easy money floating around.
  1. We will spend way too much for our military to kill off a handful of nutjobs. Yes, there are some folks in need of killing, but there’s no need to spend a billion dollars to knock off a tribe that enjoys beheading journalists. A simple bounty would work.
  1. Unless Bernie Sanders has a miraculous win over Hillary, the War on Drugs will continue. This so-called war wastes so much money and resources, yet it profits some powerful people so it will march on.
  1. The Middle East will never find peace. I don’t care if you dig up Gandhi and make him POTUS. There has been fighting there since time began and I see no reason it would stop.
  1. The jacked up tax system is not going anywhere. A flat tax would be simpler, but how long have “Fair Tax” proponents been begging the masters to allow that?
  1. There will forever be waste in government. A Republican may waste money on different projects as opposed to a Democrat, but both will throw away tax payers money.
  1. The economy will not automatically get better with a certain candidate. You should focus on your personal economy rather than policies from on high.
  1. The next President of the United States will not do it for you. If you want a better life, you will have to figure out how to get it. Sure, they may tweak a policy or two that benefits you in some way, but they will not directly affect the course of your life…unless they do something really dumb. And with this collection of candidates, that is a possibility.