Don't be bamboozled. Whether you’re in camp Clinton, the Trump tent, or undecided, here are the deep dark secrets that we have exposed, which will help you to make the right decision this election day.
1. The president will not make your life better
It's interesting how we defend our prospective POTUSes (or POTI), as though they will have a more significant effect on our daily lives than even those closest to us. Consider the greatest president you can think of in recent history. What was the best thing that he did that affected your every-day life? You may be able to count them on one hand. However, for every positive thing you can think of, there are millions of things you are free to do for yourself to improve your own quality of life - regardless of who was in office. Some may point to the stock market, or gas prices as something that the president has a hand in, but several studies suggest that the president is spectator just like the rest of us.
Leaked Clinton emails indicate that your name is not mentioned in any of her communications. We get into fierce debates, lose friends, and strain relationships for presidential candidates - people who don't know us from Adam. The most telling story that Donald Trump's leaked tax return conveys, is that his business ventures involve neither you, nor anyone you know. None of your friends are listed as dependents on his tax returns (now that would be news). So, why do we care so much? It's a psychological concept called hero worship. In the 1949 issue of the American Sociological Review, Orrin Klapp, wrote an article called Hero Worship in America, where he says that the "legend-making process and creation of folk heroes, in spite of modern communications, continues as a social and political force... it generates excessive veneration. It enthrones heroes in an irrational status which criticism is often powerless to qualify." Fast forward to today's world of social media, and you'll find that these para-social relationships with groups of people around potential candidates, can have the same psychological impact as having a true relationship with the candidate, even though the candidate doesn't know you exist, nor does he or she have a personal interest in you - besides your vote, of course.
Put down the Kool-Aid. The next presidency will not call forth the apocalypse. In every American presidential election that I have had the privilege of being a part of, the public had gotten the idea that somehow their least favorite candidate was the Antichrist. If the fate of the world depended on America's election results, we would be better off making sure that our own personal economies are solid, not to mention having six to twelve months worth of canned food to survive on... don't forget the can opener.
The bottom line is this; vote for your favorite candidate, and then understand that the president of You Inc. has more influence on your success than the POTUS. Don't be discouraged if your favorite candidate gets kicked off of the island, because the truth is that no presidential candidate can keep you from your life's goals - only you can do that. Once you elect yourself to take control of your own life, you will realize that it is you, not anyone in Washington, who is the secret weapon that will change your life. The national debt will still be there when the next president has come and gone, but your personal debt doesn't have to be. The president and the congress may never agree on a budget (let alone a balanced one), but it doesn't mean that your household needs to go another month without a written, balanced budget. In any sport, your coach will tell you not to leave the game in the hands of the refs. At the Wealth Education Exchange, we say don't leave your financial future, and the posterity of your family legacy in the hands of Uncle Sam.
