Dear Mr(s). President,

I believe that in this upcoming election and any elections to come, the American public should vote based on the candidate's qualifications, and not something they read online. A staple of the generation we live in is that people feel the need to share everything on social media. The average American can post anything on Facebook or Twitter and it’s fine because the only people who might see it will be their friends and that one judgy aunt who they don’t talk to anyways. The problem with social media comes when there are millions of people seeing and being influenced by every post somebody puts on the internet. This can be positive if it’s a celebrity promoting a charity, but if a popular political figure starts spewing hateful speech it gives permission to people to join in. Nothing productive can come from that.

Right now Hillary Clinton, and Donald Trump both have millions of Twitter followers, and they both mostly just tweet about Donald Trump. With the invention of computers, we now get weekly addresses and interviews from our President on YouTube, multiple tweets per day from the new candidates, and hours of news and comedy coverage of the election. Literally anyone with a computer or smartphone can read Clinton's personal emails, or watch hours of footage of Trump voicing his opinions from The Apprentice. Never before has the general public had such an insight into the lives of Presidential Candidates. Since so much about these people is common knowledge everybody can find something to dislike about the candidates.

I think it’s important to separate what we know about these candidates personal lives from their policies. When it comes to being our commander in chief, their lives won’t really matter. The Presidents should be remembered for what they did that was good or bad for the country, and that alone. The American public at large doesn’t know that Abraham Lincoln was a wrestler, who took part in real wrestling bouts. He is instead remembered for ending slavery in America because it was great for the country. I know this is a pipe dream and can never be achieved on a grand scale, but I think that someone important and influential should make this point publicly. I think that this could sway at least some people to make the decision that is right for the country. The public should be told of the importance of voting for a candidate that is most suited and qualified for the position.

Sincerely,

Brendan F.