...Regardless, be kind to one another

An estimated 80 million people watched the first of three presidential debates between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton last week, or about 61-percent of the people who voted in the 2012 election for president (the Super Bowl, the gold standard of television viewing, netted just over 100 million people last year.)

I think it is great that people are taking such an interest in the elections this year, but I wonder how many of those 80 million viewers watched the 100-minute debate to become more informed voters versus people who watched hoping the worst would come out of the candidates. I won’t delve into who I think won the debate and I won’t talk about which candidate I am choosing because if you are undecided at this point, you have most likely been living under a rock for the past 18-months and probably aren’t registered to vote.

That said, both candidates made good points, both made gaffes and both looked presidential (here and there, let’s not get too crazy.) While watching the debate I also kept a steady eye on my social media feeds. I have friends who align themselves with both parties and some that stand firmly in the middle. Some are extreme left, others are extreme right and yet still some are extreme idiots…was that too harsh? Oh well, I won’t name names. What my Twitter, Facebook and Instagram feeds reported back to me was regardless of who they support, most of my friends aren’t too chocked-up with either of these candidates and many would have liked to see a third candidate on the stage for the debate. While there are those friends who support both Hillary and Donald to the hilt, the majority would like to have a different option.

Say what you will about the presidential nominating process in the country (both sides’ claim more often than not that it is rigged, yet both continue to play along) but these are the two we got, good, bad or indifferent. There is nothing wrong with voting for the third party candidate of your choosing and maybe your vote will tip the scales away from the current two party system (ask Al Gore and the George H. Bush what they think of that.)

At the end of the day, Trump will win most of the “flyover” states and Montana and Hillary will win the coasts. It will be a close race and one will remain standing if the two don’t kill each other during one of the next two debates. What really matters is who we elect locally and how we treat those that live around us now and in the future. This election has been especially volatile between neighbors, family members, friends and foes. Some think that regardless of who our next president is, that we are headed for another Civil War. I think that is hogwash and hyperbole. If fisticuffs didn’t ensue after eight years of George W. and eight years of Barak, I think we are pretty safe.

Continue to watch the debates, vote your conscience in November but above all, treat people how you would like to be treated and don’t let politics muddy those waters. I will continue to stand for the National Anthem and be a proud American, supporting whomever we pick as the next leader of the free world …at least for their first 90-days, after that, who knows? I will also continue to know that regardless of who the president of this great country is that the people of the great country are the real leaders.

Thanks for reading and aloha.