by William Dirienzo

Created on: June 15, 2009   Last Updated: June 28, 2009

This past October, Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin was featured in a Saturday Night Live skit that definitely left some viewers scratching their heads. The Palin Rap that cast member Amy Poehler, delivered on Palin's behalf, is just one more strike against the credibility of our upcoming election. As we close in on Election Day in this time of economic and social turmoil, our country's politics should be last on the list of comedic subject topics. To turn something of such national magnitude into the punch-line of a joke isn't a negative reflection on the candidates, it's a negative reflection on our country's largest voting demographic.

Because both parties strive to appeal to as much of the population as possible, the legitimate debates and speeches given by each candidate are often overshadowed by the dumbed down approaches to swaying uninformed voters. With such a push from our society to vote, candidates are basically forced to find the audience of the majority however possible - be it on Saturday Night Live, MTV, or on Regis and Kelly.

Let's face it, there's a large percentage of the population who do not follow politics further than what they hear at work or what their friends insist is true. In spite of that, they still turn out on Election Day and make a vote based on the platforms of fallacious rumors and blind faith. This year's election has been exceptionally plagued with such blatant close-mindedness that SNL didn't need to perform any skits concerning the election; it's becoming a joke in itself in respect to the voting populace.

Until a system of weeding out misguided votes can be put into place, I don't think I'll ever be completely satisfied with our country's voting system. When people factor in race and religion into their voting selection, I cannot help but feel hopeless about where we are going as a country. How can America really change if so many of its people are stuck in a time warp of ignorance? The number of votes in this election that can be attributed to such bias will be staggering, there's no denying it.

When I registered to vote last year, I couldn't help but feeling too uncomfortable to register with either major party. Not because of the elected party members, but because of the strongly opinionated views in which some of the devout supporters of each side have. Until I heard it with my own ears, I could not believe that people who insisted on shunning Obama for being of Muslim heritage actually existed until I heard the argument with my own ears.

How can so many people believe that the Democratic presidential candidate of the United States of America is a terrorist? Is voting for McCain the same as re-electing George W. Bush? I guess it all depends on who you ask. Voters in this election owe it to themselves and their country to make a well-informed decision on choosing their next leader. It's crucial for our generation to break the status quo by electing a candidate on their actual stances on issues, not on how funny they are or on the basis of any other non-political issues.

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