So I've Been Thinking: Politicians' mothers should be ashamed

As Election Day gets closer the campaigns for president are getting that much more intense. Politicians are spending more and more money to tell us that they know best and we should vote for them.  They buy commercials and take long trips to make big speeches telling us why they are the perfect choice.  I, however, wouldn’t vote for any of my current options for president, and there are three simple reasons why. 

When I was a little kid, my mother taught me three rules to live by that I am now convinced that politicians’ mothers never taught them. My mom always told me that if I didn’t have anything nice to say that I shouldn’t say anything at all. I guess that politicians’ mothers never taught their children this rule because every time I turn on the news, I hear about the latest fight going on between candidates as they throw mud at one another in an effort to make themselves look better. To me, it just looks like immature children squabbling at recess. 

My mother also used to tell me that you should never make promises you can’t keep, which always seemed like a good policy to me. Apparently, this is just being naïve to the politicians, who constantly make ridiculous promises that they could never keep, even if they really wanted to. Again, every time I turn on the television, I hear another ridiculous promise made by some politician that I so desperately want to believe in because it would make this country a better place.  Then I remember why my mom told me not to make promises I couldn’t keep. In the end, when the promise is eventually broken, everyone gets hurt.

When I would get in fights with my little sister, my mom would yell at us to find a compromise. As a very young child, I learned what that meant and how to get to one so that my little sister and I could play together happily. This must just be another life lesson that politicians’ mothers skipped since all you see political parties do is fight with one another. Neither one will give an inch to the other, since that might mean defeat. They spend so much time arguing that they can’t even pass a budget to keep the country running. A room full of adults can’t accomplish what my sister and I did as small children.

Am I simplifying this too far? No, I don’t think I am. Why shouldn’t I expect out of the leaders of my country the same behavior my mother expected out of me in elementary school?