I was listening to a favorite artist of mine, Michael Render, when I stumbled upon his song “Reagan.” I was struck by the line, “Ronald Reagan was an actor, not at all a factor/Just an employee of the country’s real masters/Just like the Bushes, Clinton and Obama/Just another talking head telling lies on teleprompters”.

The debates are over and election day is looming, but did we really gain anything from these debates besides seeing the corruption of two-party politics?

My point is that President Barack Obama and Gov. Mitt Romney seemed to have similar views regarding foreign policy. Using the military to engage in imperialism overseas is nothing new to the American political spectacle, but these two candidates take it to a whole new level.

Obama’s stance on Iran: Sanctions with possible military action.

Romney’s stance on Iran: Sanctions with a slightly higher possibility of military action.

Both candidates support the economic sanctions being used to crush Iran’s economy in an attempt to force Iran to bend to American hegemony.

Don’t even get me started about Syria.

Under the guise of “building Democracy,” both candidates agree that the United States should take a leading role in helping the Syrian rebels – who are such a diverse and splintered group that helping them could mean helping Al Qaeda – install a pro-American regime.

But the drone strikes are what we worry me the most. Each candidate has supported the president’s right to assassinate people in foreign countries with aerial drones.

Peace is impossible when both parties clamor for war.

We have two puppets on stage, both handled by the same puppeteer.

I’ll let Michael Render take this one out: “If you don’t believe the theory, then argue with this logic/Why did Reagan and Obama both go after Qaddafi?”

Mann, a freshman computer science major from Raleigh, is an opinion writer.