2016. When I hear that set of numbers, I honestly do not know what to think. There really is no label we can apply to this year. Actually, there is one. Confusing. It is confusing to me because we have a vast amount of social and economic issues that have been unaddressed, not to mention international turmoil. Yet somehow, we have managed to let two inane and incompetent individuals run for the office of the President of the United States due to the hypocrisy of the two-party system. For those of you who do not know who I am speaking of, those two people are Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.

In terms of the upcoming election, I honestly have been left speechless by both candidates, and not in a good way. On one hand, you have Hillary Clinton, who as far as I know, is not well-liked by most Liberals due to a variety of reasons. The main concern I have with her becoming our president is that she may start World War Three. I say this because of her past work as the Secretary of State, including her “removal” of internet-based files that contained sensitive information, such as SCI (above top secret) and SIGMA 1 (which has to do with nuclear energy and weapons) classifications. Additionally, Clinton’s statements regarding the Russian Federation’s involvement in the Middle East seems to be a subliminal attempt to prod the Russian Bear, Vladimir Putin (a man I have the utmost respect for). Yes, the United States has a large and well equipped military but Hillary realizes to what limits the Russians would go to act upon insults.

On to everyone’s favorite businessman and newly-appointed politician: Donald Trump! Out of 17 Republican candidates, some worse than others *COUGH* Ben Carson, how in the world did the party manage to let Trump be the frontrunner? Anyway, it is a bit too late to be asking that question, so let’s cut to the chase. Last year while I was doing some research for a speech regarding Donald Trump’s business, social, and political life, I acquired more information about his opinions and dealings. Donald’s ideas about his foreign policy and economic ideals have been obscure to most people, including myself. From what I have been able to discern, I think I agree with his ideals of trickle-down economics and bringing industry and business back to the States, but still, I will not commit to supporting him because he has been inconsistent in his decisions. In the past, Donald Trump has supported and endorsed candidates from the Democratic and Green Parties, and I respect others’ opinions and decisions, but to have someone who has been all over the political board does not make them a trustworthy person to run our country. Another subject that bothers me is Trump’s thoughts on immigration. I can see how he thinks it would be good to detain people of certain ethnicities and religions, but in my eyes, that is a very unfair and unintelligent thing to do. This particular aspect of the Trump campaign is something that is important to me because although my siblings and I are all natural born citizens and my parents have been legal United States citizens for a considerable amount of time, I am still a person of South Asian descent. To single out people who believe in a certain religion because of others’ actions is simply unconstitutional. After all of this immigrant talk, I am compelled to give my opinion on those who illegally enter the country. As long as said illegal alien is being a productive member of society, is willing to produce valid identification, and takes the citizenship test, they should be allowed to reside in the United States as a documented alien.

All in all, whoever you pick at the end of the day, nobody really knows in what direction this country is headed. I hope Americans will see past the political facade and vote for a better future for our country, the United States of America.