Every time election season rolls around, politicians who plan to run are put under a microscope. The media watches their every move, digs up dirt on their past and tries to find out any information that would make them “cancelable.” When the dirt is dug up, it is plastered around social media to let the potential voters know that one time 30 years ago, this candidate picked their nose in public. 

Obviously, if the information revealed is something serious like an assault or rape allegation, they should no longer be considered for a position of power. Oftentimes, it has to do with voting against or for certain policies in the past that contradict their current viewpoint or views of their party. 

Part of what potential voters need to understand is that modern American politics is a game. Politicians say what people want them to say, believe what will get them elected and act however they are expected to. Lately, the expected behavior is being followable on Twitter, posting memes and roasting politicians with no fear of a clap-back. Now everyone is behaving this way on social media, including the president himself. By doing this, potential voters see that politicians, too, are people. Do the politicians look foolish acting this way when they are in a position of power like this? Absolutely. Does it garner them more attention and maybe more votes? Yes. 

That is not to say that the average politician has no moral compass. Politicians not being open with the public about their ideas shows a stronger moral compass. Many are willing to lie about what they believe so that they can hold a position of power and achieve what they want to achieve. 

Mud-slinging politicians, either from those who they are running against, the opposing political party or potential voters, does not help in the voting process. Unless the political figure in question did something that could warrant legal action or is morally unsound, the public should focus on their political beliefs over any decisions they have made in the past. 

If a person who is running for office now once said that LGBTQ people are not equal to non-LGBTQ people but now claims the opposite, that should not be a deal-breaker, not because LGBTQ rights do not matter, but because people can grow and learn. Some people are raised incorrectly but, later in life, are able to turn around and understand that their parents were wrong. It is all right to change beliefs. In fact, it is expected of each individual to change in order to grow. 

Some might argue they did not actually change their mind but instead only claimed to change their mind in order to get more positive attention. It does not matter. If a politician secretly thinks that abortion should be illegal but is publicly pro-choice and votes for women to have the right to their bodies, does it matter what they think in secret? What matters is that they are voting how they promised. 

Politicians are corrupt. Even the best and most morally sound politicians have layers of dirt underneath their kind exterior. It is the job of the American public to choose the politicians who correspond to their values and seem the least corrupt. 

Photo from U.S. Army Corps of Engineering via Flickr