“A Division of the Republick into two great Parties, each arranged under its Leader, and concerting Measures in opposition to each other. This, in my humble Apprehension is to be dreaded as the greatest political Evil, under our Constitution”
-John Adams
Picture this… The year is 2020. It’s November, but all conception of a monthly calendar has faded from existence. It’s getting darker and colder by the minute with winter creeping in and the US on the verge of yet another nationwide lockdown. Oh, and there’s an election today—a pretty important one at that—but we may not know its results for quite some time. Sound familiar? That’s the reality we find ourselves in on this brisk Tuesday morning, an uncertain immediate future that affects the lives of millions.
“Vote!” has been on the forefront of America’s mind for months now like a subliminal message painted on the inside of our eyelids. The very word “Vote” has become the focal point of any and all marketing campaigns; meaning that voting has morphed from a constitutional right to become a commodity. It’s almost as if things have gotten so bad in our country that brands are selling us on our most intrinsic right. Last election showed us that Americans were desperate for change. We were tired of seeing politicians doing what they do: politicking; so, we gave the White House to a billionaire reality TV star.
Whether you like it or not, Donald Trump embodies the American Dream. If you have money, you can do whatever you want. If you have power, you can rid your inner circle of anyone who doesn’t agree with you. And, most importantly, if you have the platform that is the American Presidency, you can say anything that pops into your head for billions of people to hear and read. There are rights, then there are responsibilities. Our president exercises his 1st amendment right to its full extent every day but takes very little responsibility for the consequences of his statements. I’d like to make it clear that this is not an anti-Trump post by any means. But there is no denying that our President is extremely selective about which of his statements he takes responsibility for.
Make no mistake about it, voting in the 2020 election is a responsibility of every registered American. Not that it hasn’t been a responsibility before, it’s that the last two elections showed us just how seriously American citizens take their right to vote. To put a number on it: about 55%. That’s trash.
Really? Voting in American political elections started as a right reserved only to white men. It took over two hundred years to become available to all American citizens without poling taxes or literacy tests and only half of us gave enough of a damn to vote last election? We can do better.
That being said, this election is still a complete s#!t show. How could it not be? We’re in a pandemic. Social media posts have caused us to cut certain people out of our lives. And our two elderly-white-male candidates spend more time arguing over who is less racist than actually doing anything to solve the issues of institutionalized racism, which seems too ironic to even be real. But given the technology and resources we have the US has prevailed to make sure the show goes on! But wait—now that local governments have created easy and safe ways to vote while still remaining socially distant, certain political parties are trying to invalidate hundreds of thousands of early votes essentially because they cast too easily. That seems entirely counterproductive. (If you’d like more information on this, click here.)
In all of this uncertainty, one thing remains absolute: it is the responsibility of every eligible American to vote in the 2020 election. The means have been established for almost any situation and there has never been such an effort to make voting available to everyone. The upcoming presidential term will not be one of maintaining; it’ll require top-to-bottom restructuring and political innovation to lessen the divide between two spiteful parties. No matter what the outcome is, we still have our way of life to protect and we all have a voice. Go cast your ballot and respect others for casting theirs, regardless of who it’s for. Together we can lessen this terrible divide between red and blue or left and right, and together our government will hear our voice.