Although my love of politics can’t be traced back to an exact experience, there are two particular events that stimulated my interest: the 1996 election and the 2000 election. The 1996 election maybe made me more aware of the world of politics, but the 2000 election influenced me greatly on pursuing a career in politics. However, without the experience of the 1996 election I would have never been even remotely interested in politics in the years after, and as a result the 2000 election would have had no affect on me. Therefore I will speak of both elections, and how they both affected me.
The year was 1996, and I had just started middle school the previous week. News was flying around everywhere that the president would be in town campaigning for the upcoming election. At the time, I was more worried about what was on TV and gave the hype no attention. That Sunday I was to attend a birthday for my party, but first my aunt was taking us to the campaign speech. Knowing the fun that would be shared at the birthday party, I agreed to attend the speech. Little did I know, this speech would spark an interest that would make me aware over the next 4 years of the world of politics. My cousins and I arrived at the speech bored and ready to leave. We arrived shortly before the president and waited impatiently, as cake and ice cream filled our minds. Then came the announcement. “ Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States of America.” The crowd went crazy! As he took to the podium, with the outburst of a couple thousand spectators, I could only stand in awe. He started his speech and his charisma was just too much for the many in attendance. At the end all I could do is stand in amazement. Ironically, I had more fun at the campaign speech than the birthday party. That November Bill Clinton prove too strong for the Republican contender Bob Dole, and went on to become president for his second term. In the four years following he would overcome adversity, and I would watch closely.
The second experience with the 2000 election would be deciding factor for my love of politics. In the months leading up to the election, the race between Al Gore and George Bush and become very heated. Bush had become very “trained” and rode the success of his father into the race. Gore separated himself from Clinton in what proved to be fatal for his chances to become president. I followed each debate closely labeling Gore the winner in all three, all the while thinking George Bush was an idiot. As election day drew closer it was still a dead even battle. On election day I thought we would finally have a winner, routing heavily for Al Gore. Unexpectedly, that night, as everyone knows, the country was thrown into chaos that would last the next couple of weeks. I stayed glued to the TV for the weeks to come. However, when it was all said and done Bush was the winner, as I felt the system had cheated the better candidate. From that point on I knew I wanted to pursue a career in politics.