Politics is the main focus of this month of October, as the general election happens in just four weeks. We had the vice presidential debate a few weeks ago, and the third presidential debate just two Wednesday’s ago. Some, myself included, consider this one of the worst elections in U.S. history, and we used to have candidates that were pro-slavery. This election is between two people who both have distinguished pedigrees, and they are still the worst choices for president. I wouldn’t trust them to babysit my dog. Between Trump’s blatant racism and Clinton’s numerous scandals, I can’t see anyone coming out of this election feeling like we actually accomplished something for the good of this country. This election has moved away from politics, to becoming a dog show about who has the best hair, the biggest hands or the healthiest lungs. Have elections always been this way?
Let’s begin back at the beginning of time, according to a conservative: The first presidential election. The first ever man to become president was running entirely unopposed for the highest office in the land. He was a war hero. No one needed anything more to decide that he was the man to become president. Quite a stark difference to today’s election. Now you can get voters just by mocking reporters and former military members alike. But I digress; the first presidential election was a thing of beauty. No one really argued about his policies or his ability to lead. They certainly didn’t argue about his fashion.
This brings up a scale that I’d like to introduce. The Bernie Sanders Hair Scale, or BSHS for short. It will be a 1-10 rating system by which we will identify how out of whack the world has become, based on people’s preference of certain features of their presidential candidates. The first presidential election would be the one in that scale, to show that there was zero worrying about the candidate’s fashion.
Now we move on to the wonderful time period known as the 1820’s. Andrew Jackson is running against three other candidates for the presidency of the United States of America. He won the most of the electoral votes, but he still didn’t have a majority, so the voting was passed to Congress. Because John Quincy Adams had more friends in politics than the military man Andrew Jackson, he won the congressional votes, and became president. It was not policy which decided Jackson’s loss, nor his distinguished military record. No, it was who he didn’t know in high places that lost him his election. Now, normally this is where I would assign the BSHS score, but Jackson’s story isn’t quite finished. Almost immediately after he loses the election, he decides to show his mental instability. He forms his own political party (The Democrats, in case you were wondering), and starts off on his smear campaign of the new president. Flash forward four years, and it’s between Jackson and Adams once again.
The incumbent and the challenger facing off once again. And this time, the people decide it definitively. Jackson became the seventh President of the United States, along with one of the most definitive absolute worst presidents this country has ever had at its helm. Now, Jackson was a people’s man. He knew what they were thinking, but he committed some of the worst atrocities ever thought of. He is the reason that so many Native Americans died in that era. He said, and did what the people thought they wanted, and he has gone down as one of our worst presidents. His BSHS score is a 3, because no one cared about his appearance, but rather the words he spoke.
History is full of times when people just don’t care about what their candidates actually want, or what they promise. In fact, history is so chock-full that I just don’t feel right only making one article about the candidates, and their BSHS scores. This is why you can read next week the continuance of this troubling saga of American history.
