An illustration shows Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump watching as U.S. military aircraft take off. Unbeknownst to most students, both candidates’ administrations have a history of aggressive military actions against civilians. “No matter the color that appears on the TV on election night, the result will be different shades of gray,” Beat Editor Andréas Dillies wrote. Illustration by Kimberly Sanabria-Amaya
As the 2024 Presidential Election inches closer and closer, the youth have no reason to be optimistic about either candidate.
On Nov. 5, citizens from all over the United States will head to their local polling locations to select their next candidate — almost certainly either Vice President Kamala Harris, a Democrat or former President Donald Trump, a Republican.
It’s the epitome of American democracy. The face-off four years in the making. The opportunity for America to elect its next president.
That is, it should be. This time, it’s more like watching a train wreck.
We’ve long known that former President Trump is a danger to the United States, from his rhetoric that threatens minorities, his plans to cozy up to Putin’s regime in Russia and his dangerous tariff-based economic policy that has devastated American businesses in the past.
Most citizens, though, and most of my peers, make the mistake of assuming that Vice President Harris will be America’s savior. Look at the issues.
In their debate on Sept. 10, both Trump and Harris promised wholeheartedly to continue fracking in the United States, a type of oil drilling that can lead to respiratory problems, continues to devastate America’s natural beauty and heats our atmosphere, according to the Center for Biological Diversity.
In fact, it was the Biden-Harris administration that passed the controversial Willow Project, the nation’s largest oil extraction project and a ‘carbon bomb’. Strike one.
Both Trump and Harris promised to support Israel in its invasion of the Palestinian territory of Gaza.
An invasion that has killed 42,000 Palestinians in its first year of conflict is performed in part with U.S. bombs and U.S. intelligence. Still, Harris vows to continue arming Israel if she is elected, and avidly supports Israeli settlements in Palestine, which are illegal under international law. Strike two.
Harris and Trump have both kept close relations with Saudi Arabia for its oil money, despite the country’s ties and aid to the 9/11 hijakers. America’s interests are totally out of the picture. Strike three, she’s out.
Both candidates are bad news for the country. When we look at the facts, how can we expect Harris to be better?
How, when she wants a 33-billion dollar increase in the budget of the Department of Defense, just like the Republicans?
How, when she plans to enact the same high-tariff aggressive economic measures, just like Republicans?
How, when her administration contributed to the policy that leads to dozens dying in cells in Mexico, just like Republicans?
For so long, we students have fallen for the myth of the Democratic Party, of change, of progress. No matter the color that appears on the TV on election night, the result will be different shades of gray.
It’s time for students to look at the facts: Harris and Trump will have virtually the same impact on the country. The only difference is that Harris hides her agenda behind empty promises.
Fracking, oil projects, natural gas terminals, every single cancer case, every single ruined swamp and every single barren landscape are all at least partially the fault of the government my peers so boldly support. Is that the so-called progress Democrats are making?
No matter red or blue in the White House, the Department of Defense gets a bigger paycheck every year, another drilling site gets approved and kids still get locked in cages at the southern border.
I know that someone reading this will make the mistake of assuming I am a conservative, or hardline Republican. But it couldn’t be further from the truth.
What I am, though, is frustrated. For so long, we students have fallen for the myth of the Democratic Party, of change, of progress. No matter the color that appears on the TV on election night, the result will be different shades of gray.
So whether it’s Democrat or Republican, students need to take concerns into their own hands, to get out, discuss, protest, call lawmakers and fix the issues themselves, because the candidates sure won’t.
