The presidential election is approaching this year. This will be the first election that I will be old enough to participate in and I’m debating whether any candidate is worthy of my vote.

I don’t seem to prefer any candidate, not necessarily because of a stance they take on issues like Planned Parenthood or corporate income tax, but because none of them seem to be mature enough to be president.

Watching the presidential debates has made one thing obvious: politicians today behave like children. This may be giving them too much credit though, because children at least understand some basic ethics that people like Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton can’t seem to grasp.

Bernie Sanders claims to be a warrior of the middle and poor class, yet he has been caught giving money donated from these classes, intended for campaigning purposes, to some of his family members. Seems a little hypocritical.

Hillary Clinton has also been caught using private email servers to conduct government business and then deleted them to cover it up, all the while lying through her teeth about any such activity.

Sadly, the Republicans can’t seem to get through a GOP debate without insulting or yelling over each other. The 11th debate that occurred recently was filled with personal attacks from each of the candidates with topics ranging from Marco Rubio’s failed seat in the Senate to Donald Trump’s genitals.

The reason for this moral breakdown is clear. Politicians have turned away from serious things like children’s stories, and instead have occupied their time with petty games like government, industry and military conquest. If these candidates don’t know some of the simplest of morals that a kindergartner would know, maybe they should go back and reread some children’s stories.

Who can forget the important lessons we learned from classics like “The Very Hungry Caterpillar,” “Charlotte’s Web” or “Where the Wild Things Are”?

Ted Cruz once read “Green Eggs and Ham” on the Senate floor in a filibuster attempt to defund Obamacare. Maybe Cruz should read this story again to understand the importance of trying new things as Sam-I-Am did.

Marco Rubio has a habit of making personal attacks on other Republican candidates and all their failures, probably to distract from his failed seat in the Senate. He should pick up “Toy Story” or “Winnie the Pooh” to figure out that teamwork and unity is better than fighting and division. He will learn from Woody’s initial response to meeting Buzz in “Toy Story” that tearing others down will not bring you up.

Hillary Clinton clearly needs to read “Pinocchio” to understand the importance of being truthful and that lying only makes a bigger hole to dig yourself out of. While she’s at it she should pick up “Hercules” to see that you are not above the law no matter how powerful you are.

Seeing that he can’t make it through one interview or debate without insulting someone, Donald Trump could probably grab the entire shelf. I would recommend he watch “The Emperor’s New Groove.” Trump may see some Kuzco in himself at the start of the story and by the end find that being genuinely nicer to people can help his groove.

Both the Democratic and Republican parties should read “The Giving Tree” to learn several things. Firstly, don’t keep score. Secondly, we can’t outrun our problems. And most importantly, we should be focusing on what we need, rather than what either side wants.

As for us voters, a good read with a good lesson would be “The Cat In The Hat,” to show us that we should always evaluate who we trust or else find ourselves in a huge mess.

The irony is that government is a man-made phenomenon intended to be the backbone behind our ideals and ethics. Except today, politicians will compromise their ethics for the sake of advancing their ideal government.

It’s disappointing to see that we can’t find one leader that has leadership values, or at least the values of a 6-year-old.

Ethics connect us to one another. They are unifying. Politics have only succeeded in splitting us into two different camps.

Doesn’t it make sense that we should focus on what unites us rather than what divides us? And shouldn’t our leader’s main goal be to bring us together instead of childishly pointing fingers at the other side to widen the gap?

The discussion of values and ethics has vanished from the public eye and only exists in some select places. Specifically, the children’s section at Barnes & Noble.

Jeff Guzman can be reached at [email protected] or @theorion_news on Twitter.