Should people vote for who they want to lead, or should they stay home if that person is President Donald J. Trump? Daily Wildcat Editor-in-Chief Sam Burdette and Managing Editor Pascal Albright debate how U.S. citizens should be using their vote this election season.
I don’t care who, just vote — Sam Burdette
just got my early ballot in the mail. Now, it lies on my dresser awaiting the moment I tear it open and do my part in creating the representative government the U.S. was designed to have. That is the main point, isn’t it? For our government to represent us as a population of competent adults?
This is why I take issue with so many today telling people, “If you aren’t voting Biden, don’t vote at all.” I’m just as much a fan of Trump as the next broke 20-year-old college student, but I strongly believe you should – and, more than ever, need to – vote for who you think is best fit to lead this country in the direction you want it to go. As much as it may be controversial to say it, if that means you vote to reelect Donald Trump, so be it.
I truly believe the problem isn’t who you vote for, it’s whether you choose to vote or not. If all of us, and I mean every one of us 18- to 24-year-olds, got out there and voted, we could have quite the impact on this country. Our voice as the future of the United States would be represented fairly. If that means Trump gets reelected — well, then that was, democratically, our decision as a country. We as a group of people would have decided that was the direction we wanted our country to go in. Sure, many of us would be unhappy, outraged even, but at least it would have been fair.
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I already hear the counterarguments: “The Electoral College system is flawed, Trump was elected after losing the popular vote, the Russians are meddling in our elections – you call that fair?” No, frankly, I don’t. And that sucks. But that doesn’t mean a greater voter turnout won’t make it fairer. According to Pew Research Center, 61.4% of the U.S. adult population voted in the 2016 election. That sounds like a lot, but that means 38.6% of the population didn’t vote. That’s over a third of us. That’s over 74 million of us.
All this to say: I really don’t care what you vote for. I don’t care if you vote for or against Prop 207. I don’t care if you’re on team Martha McSally or team Mark Kelly. I don’t even care if you support Biden or Trump.
But – no matter who or what you’re planning on voting for – I do care that you vote.
I don’t care who (you are), you vote blue — Pascal Albright
y ballot also arrived at my home sometime last week, however mine is already filled in with the right candidate to get us out of this mess. While I truly believe in a democratic system where the people in power are elected by the people, for the people, we can kind of agree the systems/ideals of the past clearly need updating, including when it comes to elections and our political system.
The U.S. political system is very messy when it comes to voting and elections and with time so much has changed. Remember, there were times where human beings that walked the same streets couldn’t vote for the people in power to represent them. Now, in 2020, practicing that right to vote is more important than ever.
Now, while voting in general for the people you personally believe in to best represent you is the main idea in this and all elections, I have something else to say. In the 2020 presidential election, we the people cannot vote Donald J. Trump in for another four years. Joe Biden is the only candidate to take seriously this election and the one worth voting for.
This was made clear by the first presidential debate held Tuesday, Sept. 29, where Biden used this as a platform to address the American people, whereas Trump practiced his “right” to bash his opponent and dismiss questions and critical feedback from the people. The debate is a perfect example of how messy and much of a joke the last four years have been, from banning people from entering this country because of religious reasons to locking children in cages, and being responsible for the pandemic mess we are in right now. If it’s not clear by now that this country is a mess and we need cleaning up, I don’t know what it will take.
According to The Washington Post, Pres. Trump has made more than 20,000 false or misleading claims and has run this country like one of his failing businesses, on lies and misdirection. It is time to get rid of the clowns in office, and while Joe Biden doesn’t have the cleanest closet, he is the one and only candidate worth the vote!
Vote blue to get rid of the racist foolishness that runs our country. Why vote for someone that will only make things worse as seen by the last four years of lies and deceit? Vote Biden in or don’t vote at all!
Sam Burdette is a journalism student and current editor-in-chief of the Daily Wildcat, and Pascal Albright is a journalism student and current managing editor of the Daily Wildcat. Follow Sam Burdette and Pascal Albright on Twitter
