Irvington can be weird, but we’ve all immersed ourselves in every nook and cranny here. Still, we can’t be sheltered in this environment; we must stay in touch with current events outside of school to be responsible citizens. As the presidential primaries get right around the corner, we must recognize the institutional flaws that make up our political systems. Additionally, it is crucial for every American to be open to the exchange of ideas during this time — even if they have decided on who they will vote for.
Disclaimer: I identify as a progressive. I will try my best to keep my criticisms in this article objective, but I am prone to bias. Please keep that in mind as you read.
In elections nowadays, it’s not so much “try to figure out what candidate we should vote for through prolonged public discourse” anymore. Partly because of bandwagon appeal and partly because of the lesser of two evils principle, American voters often focus on the popular candidate and ignore the rest. Still, try to follow the primaries this year with an open mind. Even if you or your family are already voting for Biden or Trump, it won’t hurt to listen to other presidential candidates’ ideas.
So what can we learn from the other candidates? Marianne Williamson, the most left-leaning candidate in the Democratic Party, shares valuable insight on how “Democrats shouldn’t fear a primary” but should take advantage of it to spark the exchange of ideas. Even though she only polls at 9%, her bravery to run without prior congressional experience demonstrates our institutions’ strength in popular sovereignty — that our governments really can be run by the people.
Democratic Party candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s campaign, on the other hand, tells of a different story. While Kennedy Jr. is running under the Democratic Party, the Guardian tells of how he is most liked by conservatives from the Republican Party. But to most Democrat-registered voters, his — in the New York Times’s words – “conspiracy theory that coronavirus vaccines were developed to control people via microchips” appears delusional. Even though his candidacy is barely a threat to Biden’s, he and candidates like him would show weakness as his platform does not align with his constituency’s beliefs.
Compared to the Democrats, the Republicans have seen a lot more candidates emerge in the primaries. Trump’s most direct rival currently remains to be Ron DeSantis but DeSantis falls short where Trump is strong. Despite Elon Musk and most of the GOP endorsing him, DeSantis appears less appealing to Republican voters because of their difference in charisma.
As governor of Florida, DeSantis has supported discriminatory legislation like bans on AP African American Studies for “lacking ‘educational value and historical accuracy’” according to EducationWeek, passing the “Parental Rights in Education bill” (a.k.a. The Don’t Say Gay Bill) and limiting Chinese Americans from buying land in the state. With his relative popularity amongst business and congressional interests, Americans face a risk of elevating his state policies to the national level.
Similar to Robert F. Kennedy, Republican candidate Vivek Ramaswamy’s campaign goals of raising the voting age to 25 and invading Mexico have also made him unpopular.
With our current duopoly system, voting sucks. It feels like you can never vote for the candidate you want. Still, you should still vote! Every vote counts! For example, popular sovereignty won Minnesota democrats “full control of Minnesota’s state government for the first time since 2014,” according to Vanity Fair, by just a one-seat majority. As a result, Minnesota Democrats are making a whole lot of legislation – from legalizing recreational marijuana to reinforcing rights to abortion to creating paid family and medical leave. The list goes on.
Although we are all underage and can’t vote yet, we shouldn’t stop paying attention to politics — in this case, the presidential primaries. As we learn more from different political platforms and more about our institutions’ flaws can we become informed citizens and — vote well.
