For the past few months I haven’t been feeling too well. So I did what any normal person would do … google my symptoms. Nausea … whenever the word ‘scandal’ displays across the news screen; Trouble sleeping … due to nightmares of tiny orange hands coming towards me; Irritability … whenever someone mentions deleted emails or Benghazi; Loss of voice … due to an overwhelming amount of money wielding influence. I hit enter. Finally an answer to what’s been going on: seasonal election depression. Usually symptoms only pop up early in the election season when there are a lot of nerves while waiting to see who will become the nominees. Once they’re picked, you can sit back and relax and support your party’s choice. Except this season things have only gotten worse.

I have enjoyed elections since I was in the fifth grade. It was 2008 and my social studies teacher gave us the whole run down. I was enchanted. A few weeks later, we were assigned a project where we had to interview another student then write a page about them and what they care about. Ethan liked swimming and watching TV. Alyssa liked lacrosse and The Jonas Brothers. The project about me read “Glynnis thinks McCain made a mistake choosing Sarah Palin for VP because he is old and if he dies, she is too crazy to be president.” How annoying presidential elections are only every four years. Why can’t they be every year?! I could not wait for the next one.

While I still like elections and want a job in campaigning, the enchanting haze around them has disappeared and what is left behind was not what I expected. Elections are the backbone of our democracy, where the American people carry out their civic duties and choose a president based on their policies and vision for the next four years. These days the American people are disillusioned; their voices have been drowned out by corporations who pour millions of dollars into the campaigns of puppets (to some extent, they are both puppets). Discourse and clear plans on how to fix this nation’s issues are overshadowed by scandals, overdramatic displays of character, and hate-mongering statements said to scare people to go to the polls. The divisiveness of this election from every angle, the candidates, the media, the money, has cast a dark cloud over this nation’s feeling towards politics. Closing in on the last week before the election, I cannot wait for this election to be over. And in the future we need to prepare for seasonal election depression by getting one of those happy sunshine lamp candidates, like Cory Booker or

Elizabeth Warren.