The election is only a few days away now.
Many of you have already submitted your absentee ballots or voted early in North Carolina. It’s been 19 months since the 2016 election began on March 23, 2015 with Ted Cruz announcing his candidacy at Liberty University.
The past 19 months have been filled with divisive rhetoric, and the negative aura surrounding this election has disillusioned an increasing number of voters. I’d like to change the tone a bit though, as we work to cross the finish line. Instead of writing a piece about why you should not support Donald Trump or why you cannot support Republicans in down-ballot races, I’d like to tell you why you should support Democrats in 2016.
The vision of the Democratic Party is one of equality and a brighter future for all Americans. From the primary debates between Senator Bernie Sanders and Secretary Hillary Clinton, Democrats have been working around a principle of making our country stronger for the 99 percent.
Eight years ago, Barack Obama inspired our country with hope and change. During his eight years as president, he has inspired many Americans and worked to create a country that is accessible for all Americans. After taking office during the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, Obama and the Democrats passed the economic stimulus, which slowed unemployment and eventually led to significant private sector job growth.
President Obama provided protections for the LGBTQ community by making federal anti-discrimination orders, repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”, and the Supreme Court assisted by proclaiming marriage equality the law of the land. Obama worked to expand access to health care for all Americans, regardless of pre-existing conditions by passing the Affordable Care Act.
This is not to say our work is complete. Obama has also positioned the U.S. to be a world leader in environmentalism after the 2015 COP21 summit in which America continued its mission to reduce greenhouse emissions.
During Clinton’s career, she has proven to be a successful change maker, and she will be the pragmatic politician that we need in order to succeed as a country. From Clinton’s earliest days, she has worked to provide a voice for the under privileged, and I expect that she will continue to do that from the Oval Office. We must protect Obama’s legacy, but we also must work to build upon it.
We still have a long way to go to achieve a truly universal health care. We must ensure that Americans working forty hours a week do not have to live in poverty by providing workers with a living wage. We must promote an atmosphere where Black Lives Matter.
We must work towards making college affordable for all Americans. We must work towards a constitutional amendment to get big, corporate money out of politics and return democracy to the voters of our country. We must invest in all levels of education, to ensure prosperity for our next generation of Americans. We must appoint liberal justices to the U.S. Supreme Court to protect marriage equality and a woman’s right to choose.
For these reasons, I encourage you to support Hillary Clinton for President, Roy Cooper for Governor, Deborah Ross for Senate, Michael Morgan for the North Carolina Supreme Court and all Democrats down the ballot, either during early voting, until Nov. 5, or on election day.
As Obama has said, his legacy is on the ballot. We must protect his policies of tolerance, justice and equality. To a shattered glass ceiling and a brighter tomorrow. We are “Stronger Together.”
By Sebastian Ivory for College Democrats
