What is happening to our country?

In the midst of family dramas and school finals, I browse sites like reddit and wonder what everything is coming to. There are political rants, ravings, polls, and smear campaigns all over the web, and yet it somehow feels so pointless. I ignore the latest Clinton/Obama verbal battle in favor of an animated gif of a cat being run over by an RC car. The now-old joke of Clinton bringing up Obama's kindergarten "essay" is hilarious, and yet so sad. Where is the intellectual debate? Everything I've seen concerning the major candidates just sounds petty.

Oh well. I am "one of those" Kucinich and Ron Paul supporters, and I hope beyond hope they pull out ahead. They are labeled as crazy and out there, but to me they seem like the sanest candidates in a cage of lunatics. I like that they are unafraid to depart from the norm, and I like their integrity and substance, compared to the other cookie-cutter candidates.

Maybe, it is as simple as the fact that as a minority (in so many more ways than ethnically), I am deeply compelled to listen more closely to other minorities.

What is happening to America?