Election not focusing on real issues, candidates attacking with petty arguments
As the 2016 presidential primaries are coming to a heat, more and more media time is being spent covering their “issues.”
Rather than tuning into CNN and hearing about different policy disputes between candidates, however, one will usually hear about something that has no real bearing on the actual election.
Both parties have been guilty of diverting from the issues to focus on petty, meaningless attacks that do nothing but lower society’s collective awareness of what’s actually going on.
The Republicans have been horrible about focusing on the real issues. The (current) worst example of this was the feud between Ted Cruz and Donald Trump over their wives. Countless stories and media reports flooded the news with this painfully stupid argument between the front-runners.
While Donald Trump is definitely to blame for making it an issue at all, Ted Cruz is also to blame for allowing the issue to stay in the light for so long. Presidential candidates should clash on policy, not on who can better defend their wife from being insulted.
This GOP primary race feels more like a reality television show than a presidential campaign.
While not as bad as the Donald Trump fueled circus on the right, Democrats have also slipped and allowed themselves to stray from the real issues.
At the start of the campaign, both candidates were able stick to the issues relatively well. One of the hallmark moments of early campaign season was Bernie Sanders telling Hillary Clinton that people “are sick of hearing about your damn e-mails.”
This early camaraderie appears to be fading, however. Over the past few weeks the Democratic race has gotten ugly, and with the crucial New York primary right around the corner, things will only get uglier.
Recent attacks have shifted from in-depth discussion of policy seen at the early debates to attacks about how informed Sanders’ followers are and the qualifications of both candidates.
These arguments are pointless. No one is going to be convinced the reason they don’t support Hillary Clinton is because they don’t do their own research, and no one is going to be convinced that either a former First-Lady/Senator/Secretary of State or someone who’s held national office since the first Bush Administration isn’t qualified to be president.
There are legitimate policy discussions that need to be addressed in the Democratic Party, but participating in foolish arguments about qualification will only divide it.
Both the Democrats and Republicans are better than what they have shown in 2016. When whoever is elected takes office, I guarantee you their policy positions will be far more important than the “issues” that are being discussed right now.
