“You’re either one side or the other,” is a quote I hear more as time goes on when discussing the hectic political spectrum.
This election will be the first presidential election that I, and many other people my age, will be voting in, but that does not mean I know who I am voting for. I always try to avoid talking about politics, but when I do, people always talk about how they dislike Donald Trump or Kamala Harris just based on them being a “bad person” but rarely ever looking into what their policies will be if they run the government.
Not only am I a moderate, but an undecided moderate. I like both candidates’ policies, but unfortunately, these candidates make themselves seem so unlikable it is very hard to decide who I want to vote for. I originally wanted to vote for the “We the People” candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr, who had policies that were bipartisan, such as his pro-choice stance on abortion and ending corruption on Wall Street and mega-corporations. He later dropped out and endorsed Donald Trump.
When I look at the Republican candidate, Trump, I see a disgraced former president who runs his mouth to the point where he keeps repeatedly shooting himself in the foot. Looking at his economic policies, he promises to “end inflation and make America affordable again,” which is practically impossible, as the economy is always changing. Many people believe Trump is against abortion, which he originally was, but recently, he has taken a more moderate stance and said that the states should be free to decide their laws on abortion.
Looking at the Democratic candidate, Vice President Harris, I see someone very similar to the 2016 Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton trying too hard to relate to everyone, which makes her seem disingenuous. Looking at her economic policies, she has worked with President Joe Biden to pass legislation regularly called “Bidenomics,” which includes investments across the country in infrastructure and green energy. Many people also believe Kamala is for open borders. She is quite moderate on the subject, stating many times that she supports the cross-party border security bill, which “includes hundreds of millions of dollars for border wall construction.”
One thing I hate about politics nowadays is that people support whoever they are voting for like they’re supporting a sports team, wearing their merchandise, flying their flags and making their whole personality based around who they are voting for, this is just one of the many reasons I am a moderate. While I understand Presidential merchandise has been a thing since the mid-1800s, since the 2016 election, I have seen an uptick in supporters who make their whole personality about whoever they support, common with the conservative side with Trump merchandise.
This country has been incredibly divided. I have seen people that I know stop talking to close friends just because of who they support in the election. This has also been an issue in Congress, especially recently many Congress members do not cross party lines to pass legislation, which was quite common up until the late 2010s, with the last major congressional member to be known for this being Republican Sen. John McCain.
We as a country deserve a candidate who can not only help the country flourish but also help bring American citizens closer together, no matter their political beliefs, we are all the same at our core and many people seem to have lost that knowledge these days, because at the end of the day we are all human beings.