Elections in the United States are too long. This election cycle, Hilary Clinton started her campaign first on April 12, 2015, almost nine months before any primaries, and around a year and a half before polls close for the general election. That's 1.5 years of awful, mudslinging campaign ads, overwrought news media coverage, and a general air of discontent that just makes everyone feel bad. With recent advances in information technology, we do not need a long time to get to know the candidates, and the length of the election cycle should reflect this.
We propose that candidates for president should not be allowed to begin campaigning until January 1 of the year of the election. We cannot take another two years of being inundated with this partisan clown fiesta.