Back in December, I was amused with a political cartoon of a little kid writing a letter to Santa Claus: “Dear Santa, please bring me more presidential candidates, I don’t like any of ‘em.”

I used to laugh at political jokes, but so many of them kept getting elected to office. Just when I thought the presidential campaign couldn’t get any worse, along come the debates and the sorry decline of political muckraking yet.

The American political landscape is almost as disheartening as having ex-CIA director George H. W. Bush and ex-KGB director Yuri Andropov in office at the same time.

Sunday’s debate was depressing, knowing that either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump will represent the American people for the next four years. I’m not the only one weighing the options of voting for a third-party candidate. I was drawn to Associated Press national writer Matt Sedensky’s article. His lead was succinct and to the point: Enough already.

An Associated Press NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll conducted Sept. 15-18 found three out of four Americans felt frustrated by the election, and majorities also described themselves angry and helpless. Fewer than one in five said they were proud of the 2016 presidential race.

“We’re screwed with either one of them,” 63-year-old Sally Stevens of New Orleans told the AP. Stevens stated she was a lifelong Democrat and has, until now, always cast her vote for the party’s candidate. Stevens said she is considering Green Party candidate Jill Stein in November, saying both Clinton and Trump are “too flawed.”

And of course, if the candidates are busy slinging it, so must the media. “Access Hollywood” recently uncovered a recording of Trump from 2005 in which the businessman boasted of groping women. Many in the Republican camp have gone on record saying they won’t be voting for their nominee.

Sedensky’s article said Republican National Committeeman Tom Rath can’t bring himself to vote for either party’s nominee. He will likely write in Mitt Romney or John Kasich.

Maybe it’s time for Americans to order off the menu for the next election and research other options.

Freedom of speech, means raising a collective voice for change. Whether or not you agreed with the long ago battle cry, “Hell no, we won’t go.” Americans had something to say, and I say it’s time to put someone in the oval office that doesn’t make me sick.

Rodney Harwood a business/sports writer for the Columbia Basin Herald and can be reached at (509) 765-4561 ext 111 or businessag@cvolumbiabasinherald.com.