With the 57th U.S. presidential election just around the corner, I fail to ascribe that much importance to it. There are plenty of reasons for me to care but I just don’t really care what happens and I believe that there are a few of you who feel the same way. So this is for you self-centered people.
The media is constantly bombarding us with their positions, making me feel guilty for disregarding their shower of political information, when they are merely trying to sway me into agreeing with their political standpoints. We know, or at least I do, that the presidential elections are a big deal. However, at the end of the day I just want to sit on my couch, have a beer and not think about the possible and not-so-distant future of this country. After all, I have my own problems, and the president, whether the old one stays or we get a new one, is not going to help me deal with them.

Another reason to pay no heed to this bipartisan quarrel is that I have little to no say on the possible outcome. Now if you think your vote matters, then help yourself and grab a copy of The Pan American’s Oct. 4 issue and go to Pages 4 and 5. There it is explained how little influence you have over the presidential election.

Presidential candidates aren’t doing this to persuade people to choose them to run the place, as is commonly imagined (mistakenly) by the unaware masses that think their vote makes a difference.
Presidential elections are merely a time in which a couple of politicians embark on a popularity contest across the country, and even beyond, in order to let the Electoral College (a small group of selected individuals that actually make the decision) know which is the least hated person among the candidates. Then they make a decision, sometimes not considering the popular vote. How do you think George W. Bush got the presidency? You live in a republic, not in a democracy.

I have to also take into account that such display of political propaganda is mostly unnecessary. We are fed a constant interchange of political stands by two people who, we are told, will run the country but in the end they are just part of the group who govern the country. We hear ideas they plan to carry out but in order for that to happen they have to go through the Congress, which is comprised mainly of both Democrats and Republicans who are constantly bickering with each other, and with the president. So it’s quite difficult for the president to come through with his promises.

Not only that, most of the country is going to vote based on color, red or blue, disregarding the political views of the candidate. The thick-minded will just vote for their favorite team and will ignore everything else, and even convince themselves that they are doing the best for the country. I’m constantly baffled at the sheer stupidity of calling yourself a Republican or Democrat. No one’s political views fall entirely on a party that has very contrasting viewpoints from the other.
Inform yourself and form an opinion, everyone has issues in which they are conservative and other issues in which they lean liberal. For example, I’m all for gun rights and regulation; on that issue I’m conservative. On prostitution, on the other hand, I’m liberal. Be a person; don’t mindlessly follow like a bewildered sheep to the person that speaks what you want to hear.

Even though I have no interest in the current political propaganda I found it impossible to ignore completely. I favor Obama. Ironically enough it isn’t because I strongly agree with most of his policies. I do prefer them over Romney’s nonsense, but the main reason I want Obama to stay in office is because logically he has a better shot at fixing the United State’s current deficit. I use the term “fixing” freely because I really don’t expect a complete fix but more of a “patch up.”

Which leads me to talk about the avalanche of ignorant critique toward Obama “not fixing the economy” and blaming him for the current state of the country. Like I mentioned before, it is a group effort to run a country and he had to clean up what was given to him, which was an economic mess made by Bush. Four years isn’t enough time to fix an economy. You all have been in school more than four years, most still don’t know the difference between “your” and “you’re,” and yet still have the nerve to demand results from a public servant.

It will take time to alleviate the current state of the economy and bringing a new guy to clean up the last guy’s mess isn’t going to change much. It takes more than just shortsighted critique and crossing your arms waiting for somebody to fix an entire country’s economy. It is a country, after all, a country that we all are part of. What are we doing to fix things? What are you doing to change things for the better?

It is easy to say Bush was useless. It is easy to say Obama is useless. It will be easy to continue to say Obama is useless or that Romney will be. The problem doesn’t rely on the president mainly. There is an underlying problem that we are capable of fixing. The problem is us.
We are part of a culture that values becoming rich overnight more than forming a family based on values and respect toward others. We are a culture that has no consciousness or memory about politics or interest in the economy. We only care about these ideas when the candidates are parading around thex country spending millions on campaigns to hold our attention, because it reminds us of the illiterate pandering we usually see on TV, since in between campaigns we are too busy voting for American Idol.

If you think a president is going to fix this country, you are far from right. Whether Obama stays or Romney takes his place, they will still have to work with the flawed raw material of this country, its people. Instead of taking our futures in our hands, pitifully, we are always waiting for someone to show us the way.

We have to eradicate our vices and ignorance as a society, and then begin to grow, ourselves, notwithstanding who is in charge of the country. That’s why I don’t care who gets the presidency. To “fix” this country requires some “thing” smarter than a guy in an oval office. And if that “thing” doesn’t start to surge we will still be relegated to the background, hoping for the next president to be the new messiah that comes to magically solve all of our problems.