Brook Sunderman next author in 2016-2017 MLHS senior student editorial series
Make America (Truly) Great Again
I am a seventeen-year-old senior in high school, and I voted for Trump in our school’s mock election a few weeks ago- crazy, I know. Since I am not yet eighteen, I was not allowed to vote, and though I have little experience in the political world, I do still have many conflicting thoughts about this year’s presidential race. I have looked at views and opinions from many sides, watched the debates, read articles and been a part of several discussions. As a Christian, I find it stressful to make a God-honoring decision with my vote, so I was relieved that I will not actually be voting. I have been for both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton at one point or another over the past few months. I now think that though both candidates have their pros and cons, neither one is trustworthy, but we, as Americans deserved to have them as our options.
At first I thought that Clinton was the better option for a couple reasons, but her lack of honesty changed my mind. She wrote a book that describes all of her ideas and plans to make our country better, such as raising minimum wage, equal pay for women, and plans to help in the refugee crisis, which shows that she is prepared to answer questions because she is educated and experienced. Then again, what turned me away from Hillary Clinton is her policy that is for abortion, specifically late-term ones. Additionally, her policy on gay marriage actually has changed over the years from being against it to supporting it, which proves that she tries to change with the times instead of keeping her own integrity. I also cannot seem to ignore Hillary’s 33,000 illegally-deleted emails and do not feel as if I could really trust her to be the president of our country.
On the other side is Donald Trump, whom I have also supported but still falls short of the basic morals I would look for in a candidate. He is a very smart businessman who, as president, would probably decrease national debt and increase jobs. Unlike Clinton, Trump is against abortion and stands firm in his belief that it is murder of a human being, and though he is not as experienced and prepared as Clinton, he seems much more open. Although all of this may be true, he can be mouthy and rude, interrupting several times in almost any conversation, usually to say, “Wrong.” Trump also seems to have a lot of big plans to make America a greater place without always telling us how he will, except that he is going to build a wall to stop illegal immigrants from coming here to steal our jobs and bring terror,
Unfortunately, I believe that we have brought these difficult voting circumstances on ourselves with our selfishness, corrupt hearts and overall rebellion to God’s design, and we need to be the ones to spark a change in our country. First, we need to act out in our own lives what we would like to see in the candidates by examining our own hearts and becoming more selfless, honest and respectful. If we have a nation of people who follow the basic morals that our country was founded on, our leaders will then resemble that. Secondly, since we see the candidates in the media, they seem like actors in a movie, which makes it easy to talk badly about them. The Bible, however, tells us to love as God loved Jesus, and that includes loving Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. Since we are not likely to be face-to-face with Trump and Clinton, the biggest way that we can love them is to genuinely pray for them as we would any other friend – that God would change their hearts and make them new.
In essence, we very well may deserve a president like Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton, but grumbling about how terrible our candidates are will get us nowhere. Instead of worrying about the character of our candidates and who our next president will be, we should focus on our own character, pray for our candidates, and find our way back to King Jesus, who reigns over all. That is how we can impact the future.