Editorial: Elections should be elevated

 

     Sure, being loud, interrupting, and shouting vulgarities might have gotten you some high-fives in high school; but shouldn’t Presidential candidates be above that? Two years ago, no one would have expected a Republican front runner to have talked about genitalia on live television on a nationwide Presidential debate. And yet, it happened, and Trump did it.

Gurl, please! (Photo by Isaac Brekken/Getty Images)

Gurl, please! (Photo by Isaac Brekken/Getty Images)

Donald Trump claims he’ll “make America great again,” but we must have missed that day in History class when Ronald Reagan talked about his daughter’s body and how much he’d be dating Maureen if she wasn’t his daughter. Maybe we also missed the class where we were supposed to learn that Abraham Lincoln dropped f-bombs. How does he get away with turning America into something it has never been? Easy, claim that it’s always been this way and hope people are too stupid or angry to notice.

Of course, generalizations are bad, and not all people who are Republicans are for Trump. According to 2016.republican-convention.org, Trump is the front runner with about 37.59% of the polls preferring him over Tea Party’s sweetheart, Ted Cruz; Fox News commentator and Ohio Governor John Kasich; and once Tea Party sweetheart, Marco Rubio. In fact, there is much talk about a contested convention, which would mean that the delegates that make up the Electoral College would essentially pull a coup to nominate a candidate other that Trump.

A baby cries in the hands of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump when he speaks at a rally at Dubuque Regional Airport on January 30, 2016 in Dubuque, Iowa, USA. Photo by Dennis Van Tine/Sipa USA

A baby cries in the hands of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump when he speaks at a rally at Dubuque Regional Airport on January 30, 2016 in Dubuque, Iowa, USA. Photo by Dennis Van Tine/Sipa USA

What a Trump nomination might mean for college students, however, is a lower turnout. After all, if you are dedicated to that party, and they are the nominee, that’s your only choice. And why should you vote for someone that you’d be ashamed of? So all the votes go to the other side. Maybe Clinton, or Sanders, will be better (and less offensive) than Trump.

what   Why vote at all, if you’re voting for someone you hate?