Everything this election has taught me about America
From the perspective of an international student
Donald Trump. Hillary Clinton. Bernie Sanders. Donald Trump again. Oh, and Marco Rubio, Chris Christie…Ben Carson…Ted Cruz…wait, I need to check Wikipedia for the rest of the candidates.
This is my first experience with elections in the United States and there are a few things I have observed as an outsider about these elections from social media and from conversations with college students.
You know the US is a first world country from the way political parties choose their candidates.
My friend Nicole brought my attention to how differently the election process works in our country, Ghana. It is interesting that a candidate can lead the polls for one party because he wants to build a wall or evict people from the country. In my country, this would not be convincing enough. You cannot convince a third world country – that has greater problems, such as high poverty levels – with talks of making the country great again. It shows you the state of comfort of the United States. Yes, admittedly there are still such issues in the US but it is to a lesser degree than other countries.
If a man with no political experience and no projected plan for improving the country can still garner such mass support without being disqualified by his party, then obviously, some inhabitants of the United States have a lot less to worry about than people in other countries.
Understanding how we choose the president is equivalent to a 3-credit course at Cornell.
Okay, maybe I am exaggerating a little…but it turns out that you cannot just vote for your candidate. It has taken the social media website Now This, Trevor Noah and the daily show, Wikipedia, and Twitter to understand how this country chooses its leader (thank you, social media, for being the real MVP in this season).
So basically, Americans vote for someone who makes a commitment to vote for the president and if a majority pledges for a certain candidate, the whole state pledges for that candidate? Wait, so why do individuals have to vote? Let me check Wikipedia. Oh, so that they can choose middlemen who are leaning towards their choice of a candidate. Did I get that right? Wait. Can a middle-man (who are members of an Electoral College, according to Now This) change his vote? I am still searching for the answer to this question.
There are so many convoluted twists that come with choosing the US president, it feels like the Hunger Games.
Apparently, it’s not all about policy.
An outsider like me might see the surface: the policies, the articulation of the candidate, among other things. However, these qualities really don’t matter once everyone is digging through your past and blaming you for things that happened during your spouse’s presidency. And somehow, the impetuous and hot headed candidate is seen as having greater credibility than the experienced candidate.
Go figure.
Understanding how we choose the president is equivalent to a 3-credit course at Cornell