Election 2024 brings national divisions to boiling point as partisanship reigns
Violence, opportunity, debates, disputes. Anticipation has grown exponentially, as has the divide between Americans. Yet come tomorrow, it is all between the individual, their beliefs, and the private ballot in front of them. Donald Trump and Kamala Harris are familiar faces with drastically dissimilar viewpoints. The time has come for the country to cast its vote and decide who will hold the fragile fate of our democratic nation.
Former President Trump began his presidential career in 2016, when he defeated Hillary Clinton in the general election by receiving the majority of votes from the Electoral College. As 45th president of the United States, he increased military budgets, implemented aggressive immigration control, reduced prescription drug prices, and renegotiated trade agreements with Mexico, Canada, China, Japan, and South Korea. In 2019, he was impeached for obstruction of Congress and abuse of power. His presidency concluded with the COVID-19 pandemic, in which Trump’s “Operation Warp Speed” resulted in the private development of two approved vaccines.
The 2020 election occurred in the shadows of the COVID chaos. The world was ablaze in political debate from the comforts of home. Joe Biden defeated Trump after victory in Pennsylvania supplied the vital Electoral College votes to win the election. Trump made public allegations of voter fraud, resulting in his supporters’ violent “Save America” rally on January 6, 2021. Trump received a second impeachment for supposedly supporting the insurrection, making history as the first president to be impeached twice.
Only two weeks after the rally, Kamala Harris was sworn in as the first woman, black American, and South-Asian American to serve as Vice President. Biden and Harris worked to keep unemployment rates low, pass gun safety laws, remove lead pipes across America, and improve maternal health through Medicaid.
Now in 2024, the nation has grown critical of senior candidates running for re-election. Biden tried desperately to prove he had the agility and stamina required to serve another four year term. However, after seeming incompetent in the first debate, he withdrew from the election at the age of 81. He passed the baton to Harris, endorsing her as the democratic nominee.
Meanwhile, former President Trump faced backlash after his conviction of 34 felonies on accounts of falsified business records concerning the 2016 election.
Sophomore Saguara Foley supports Trump regardless of the claims against him.
“I know that being a felon is bad, and Trump did not make a smart choice,” she said. “However, he is a felon because of documents and business, not because he raped or murdered someone, and I think you have to consider the situation. I have a family member who was a felon and he changed in one year. He has core values and has not had any felonies since.”
In an alarming moment of political violence, Trump’s ear was wounded after being shot with an assault rifle during a campaign in Pennsylvania. Freshman democrat Temperance Thomas sympathized with Trump despite opposing his character and policies.
“I might dislike Trump, but the violence was not necessary,” they said. “It was definitely concerning and I’m worried that more violence might come out of it.”
The assassination attempt illustrates that the polarization and political antagonism has consequences for the entire nation. Dr. David Siemers, political science professor at UWO, recognizes that the opposing sides of a two-party system will never operate in perfect harmony. However, the current divide is proving disastrous.
“Democratic politics is not an exercise of holding hands or skipping through the forest, but you do need some level of mutual engagement and trust with others who are unlike you,” he said. “That is something that is in rather short supply.”
Daniel Lewis, Geography and Diversity Studies teacher in Global Academy, as well as Economics and Current Events, feels the defensive spirit one uses in political discussion naturally breeds division.
“I don’t like the two-party system, it leans towards polarization because there are two poles, but I don’t think a multi-party system is necessarily going to be a cure-all,” he said. “People will congregate around the party they believe is the right way forward for their country no matter what.”
Junior and AP Government and Politics student Rowen Stellpflug agrees, and feels the two-party system serves the United States democracy well.
“The point of the two-party system is to have a majority versus minority, so that the majority of people will be in favor of the president,” she said. “If you have too many options, it’s going to be split up in too many ways.”
Regardless, the system has its flaws. Voters often feel overwhelmed with the decision as their internal morale whirls round and round as they vacillate between the sides of the political spectrum. AP Government and Politics teacher Patrick Bertram recognizes the difficulty the election season brings to the undecided mind.
“The problem with the two party system is that you may agree with a party on three of five issues, but the other two issues are really important to you and you agree with the other side,” he said. “There is no in-between, you just need to make a decision. Meanwhile, in a lot of countries that have multi-party systems, you may be able to find an option in which your voice is more represented.”
Lewis offers advice for those who dread election day due to lack of decisiveness.
“You’re not going to find a perfect candidate, that almost never exists,” he said. “Look within yourself, and your own personal morals and ethics and choose the person who aligns most with that.”
If every US president had the same policy and line of thought, no progress would be made. It is crucial to celebrate each other’s differences, as differing beliefs have allowed great strides to be made towards a bright future Americans are content with, Bertram affirms.
“We don’t live in bubbles, although I think we often start to exist in one,” he said. “We need to recognize that we live and interact with lots of different people, and we rely upon those people who bring different viewpoints in terms of what is important.”
Foley feels anxiety when conversing with someone who opposes her beliefs.
“If I differ from someone else, I’m afraid they’re going to hate me, but I know that the hate is temporary until the election is over,” she said.
Once one can recognize and accept contention as a natural part of human existence and political culture, they can remain more civilized and engage in conversations that drive the nation forward. Freshman Natasha Tisdel tries to avoid judging other people’s viewpoints. When she faces disagreement, she wholeheartedly listens to the opposing side.
“I always take into account that nobody was raised the same, and you can't change the way someone was raised,” she said. “There are certainly people who use politics as a sword against people, and those are the people I usually avoid.”
Achieving a well informed political view is important for adolescents. Social media is as much a blessing as it is a curse, and reliable information is out there, one simply must seek it, and Seimers agrees.
“People tend to go to media that reinforces their own beliefs,” he said. “This is called confirmation bias, and if you only go out and listen to those who reinforce your prior beliefs, you’re not learning anything. The point of K-12 education is to learn something, so you need to be put in a somewhat uncomfortable position that forces you to defend your beliefs.”
The media simultaneously heightens politicians’ awareness of their reputation. While politicians have always had to defend it, some are overly concerned with reaping personal gain, which hinders their ability to lead.
“Politicians and the political atmosphere has gotten too celebrity-like,” Lewis said. “I think the ideal politician is someone who doesn’t want to be a politician. When someone makes it their personal goal to achieve high office, they’re willing to make compromises to achieve their goals. Sometimes those compromises are personal ethics or compromise to policy.”
However, in order to analyze one’s capacity to lead, adequate research is a necessity. This research must involve both sides of the political spectrum in various realms of policy to develop a comprehensive political view. Foley feels that if one is too ignorant to educate themselves, they don’t deserve to cast a ballot.
“The fate of the country is what is at stake, it’s not just about you,” she said. “I think that before voting, everyone should get at least a bit informed and know three policies for each side.”
Whether they can vote in the upcoming election or not, every student at West should be eligible to vote by the 2028 election, which hinges on the results of the election tomorrow. Most adolescents prioritize creating a future they feel prideful of, which all begins with the voice they endorse.
“There’s always going to be a winner and a loser, but that doesn’t mean one should give up the fight,” Bertram said. “If you are upset about certain things, you want to protect something, or you want to change something, nothing is going to be achieved if you don’t take part. Please vote, or at least try to.”
by Jazmine Blustin
Published November 4th, 2024
Oshkosh West Index Volume 121 Issue II