A diligent observer of high school hallways can easily spot a “vote for x” sticker on a student’s backpack from a mile away. “Vote for x” shirts are adorned as if it were a shining piece of battle-ready armor, ready to deflect political opinions from any naysayer. I just don’t think this is right.

Let me break this down for you- on how teenagers pick their favorite political candidate. It starts with a hot button issue (abortion, gay rights, gun laws, throw a dart at a Fox News article and see where it lands). A teen feels strongly about an issue, and picks whichever candidate ‘shares’ the same opinion on the issue. They choose this politician regardless of anything else. The student grasps closely to the politician’s image, forever upholding their deity in political ‘debates’ as if they were a shaman walking the Mojave desert spouting non-sense about their holy god.

“Bernie Sanders says he’s going to raise minimum wage!”

“Donald Trump is going to undo strict gun laws!”

“Hilary Clinton wants to fight gender inequalities!”

Among other things, I think a larger issue is the fact that many young people form their political opinions rather rashly and senseless. Self-proclaimed ‘social justice warriors’ click clack on their keyboards; ranting and raving about a politician, all the while relatively uninformed and misguided. I see it all the time when elections approach (and, for the most part, only when elections approach). Most of the time, it comes in the form of a student ‘supporting’ a politician simply because of their claimed ‘stance’ on an ‘issue’. “I like Hilary Clinton because she supports modern feminism.” Yeah, well- okay… Hilary Clinton having the belief of female empowerment doesn’t really pertain to government politics in general terms. Do these people who support a politician based on one issue know what the politician is going to do in terms of anything other than that? Do they even care? Most of the times, the answer is vague, but sometimes when pressed to respond, these fervent supporters honest answer is “no, I don’t”.

Teenagers seem to think the President is only a social politician. They believe that the President’s main role is to fix the problems that that given teenager sees in their world. It’s bigger than that, there are so many nuances to modern politics that I couldn’t even begin imagine it- and I wouldn’t claim to be able to. It takes real time and if not actual research, at the very least attentiveness and thought to determining who deserves your vote. To be frank, and put it in simple terms- I really think it’s stupid if you’re a student with political opinions and don’t think carefully about who you support.

This is all in terms of the average student. Believe me, I know there are some of you out there who actually care about the elections, and actually look into whichever candidate you chose rather than run into this whole shebang blindfolded.

“Chose”, is a very funny word to talk about politics. Playing ‘eenie meenie minie mo’ with a basket of political representatives seems rather dangerous, but that is the mindset of the every-day political warrior. They ‘pick’ a politician, and they don’t let go. They’re with them through thick and thin.

The United States government was built around the idea that ‘We the People’ have the right to a representative government. This is achieved by having people (politicians) represent other people (actual people). It’s a citizen’s right and obligation to support a person they deem worthy to represent them in politics. If politicians don’t represent exactly what the people want, then what’s the point?

So, if you’re going to wave your flags and banners (literally or metaphorically) for your champion political powerhouse, do so while making absolutely sure that this person is the person who’s fit best to represent all of your ideas. Otherwise, you’re aiding in the counter-production of what the Founding Fathers laid out for us.