By: Sathiyan Sivakumaran
As the second Republican debate occurred on CNN, I was left wondering what has happened to people in America. The events that were trending after the debate were: Fiorina’s response to Trump’s insult on her face, Jeb Bush saying he smoked pot forty years ago, and Trump dissing Rand Paul on his hair. Regardless of what side of politics you’re on, as a voter you have to be concerned with the professionalism that is on display at these political debates. We need our representatives to stand up for the people, and to display the values that we are proud of in America. One of those values should not be hurling superficial insults at each other. Attack the policy and actions of the person, but don’t attack the person’s looks and other irrelevant material.
In the game of politics, politicians are constantly flip flopping across the board. Some proposed tax cuts to the wealthy a few years ago and are now proposing raising taxes on the wealthy. Flip flopping is understandable sometimes; maybe the politician has learned more about the subject and has changed his or her mind. In many cases though, we see politicians doing whatever they can to keep the votes coming from their targeted voters. When Ben Carson mentioned how a Muslim probably shouldn’t be the President of the United States, we’re most likely witnessing someone trying to cater to the people whom he’s trying to win votes from. Hillary Clinton flipped her views on gay marriage from 2000 to now, and this could easily be for votes. With politicians, we never really know what, if anything, is going on in their minds.
Unfortunately, our representatives have sunk to a lot of ridiculous statements, superficial insults, and selling their beliefs in order to maximize their vote total. The two candidates I’ve seen keep their distance from this growing issue the most have been Bernie Sanders and John Kasich. In any event, the candidates who deserve the most respect are the ones who stand for what they believe in and for what is best for America. I know it’s easy to get wrapped into the entertainment and drama of a debate full of barbs and jokes, but we have to realize these people are running for a position to represent the greater than 300 million people residing in the United States of America. When we watch a debate, we’re not looking for an episode of Keeping Up with the Kardashians. We want to hear what will be done to make our lives better. When a candidate creates his platform, we don’t want to hear what you think we’d like to hear. We want to hear what you believe in. Without all of the distractions, we can be educated voters and vote for those whose beliefs align best with ours.