Wednesday, March 23, 2016

Presidential-sized Problems



Is it wrong that when I think of this Presidential Election, this meme comes to mind?


Online Politics

This election has led me to believe in the need for a political upheaval, a revolution of sorts. Politics is heading in the wrong direction.

The problem with the elections and the political processes at the moment is the recent dependence on technology. This is the first election that has been so heavily influenced by the Digital Age; at the same time the political methods haven't changed.

I open up my Instagram app and pictures like the one above are plastered over my Discover feed. I also saw a bunch of pornographic pictures of Donald Trump's wife used in a smear-ad from a Super-PAC in favor of Ted Cruz on news sites and social media.

I DON'T CARE ABOUT THE ARGUMENT THAT WE DECIDE WHAT IS NEWS. THIS IS NOT APPROPRIATE OR ACCEPTABLE!

Politics isn't a joke. It shouldn't be taken lightly. Unfortunately the internet has made it that. It's a game It's about funny faces, sound bits, and exploiting candidates's weaknesses and mistakes in order to get likes and followers. Recreational uses of technology have pushed politics close to self-destruction. 

Caucuses

I went with my girlfriend to vote yesterday. I had work until 7:15, so we rushed over to the caucus to cast our votes. We've felt very pushed to go vote and voice our opinions in recent weeks, and since Utah's primary elections were actually important this time around in deciding the candidate, we wanted to play a part. Too bad we didn't get to vote.

Now, it was partially our fault. I hadn't registered earlier on because I grew up in another country my whole life. I don't have any idea how the voting cycle works. Also, last election cycle I was in Santiago, Chile on my LDS mission. So this is my first election to participate in. I went to register, and I didn't realize that the Springville address on my drivers license would prohibit me from registering at the caucus, even though I live within the boundaries and could prove it. She went to vote, having already registered. They wouldn't let her vote though because her drivers license was from Texas.

For heaven's sake, we're still stuck in the 1800's when it comes to voting. We can ask for thousands of dollars from the government every tax season online just by typing our social security number, but we're forced to jump through rings of fire in order to place votes at a caucus. With the amount of technology that is available, how can the State not create a system that lets me vote at any caucus and update my information immediately on a shared server. I really lost a lot of desire to vote in the general election in the coming months.

Revolution

I don't have a proposed solution for how to make this system any better yet, but technology isn't being used for what it has potential for. All I can say though is that the internet has made the most important job in this country a popularity contest. The POTUS job is that of being a diplomatic, trustworthy, responsible, level-headed, understanding leader in this nation and helping forge a better future, and it is the only job in the world I can currently think of that we don't use resumes to fill the vacancy. This isn't high school student council (where the elected president doesn't actually have any power). This is a 320,000,000+ employee enterprise they're in charge of running. And we're letting memes influence our leaders.

Sad.

2 comments:

  1. That is a bummer that you and your girlfriend couldn't vote. However the system may be outdated as mentioned but I disagree with an entire reform. I agree that there should be improvement (such as we shouldn't be locked into our party) but that we could have digital registration to speed up the process etc..

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  2. This makes me wonder how terrible things are going to have to get before reforms happen. I'm not suggesting that huge governmental reforms necessarily need to happen, I'm suggesting that voting reforms need to happen.

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