Dear Reader,
While major papers like The Washington Post, USA today, and more neglect to endorse a presidential candidate, many of us in the Goucher community cannot afford to remain silent.
In America, so much about the future of our country is determined by a single presidential candidate. Regardless of how you feel about it, the outcome of this election is predicted to be either Democrat Kamala Harris, or Republican Donald Trump. We know our student body. We know there is anger towards Harris and President Biden, and towards their words and actions during their ongoing term. We know there are those who would rather withhold their vote. We also understand the failings and limitations of a two-party system.
But we also know what a country under Donald Trump looks like. We know the need for, and the power of democracy. Goucher College prides itself on tolerance, diversity, and community. These are values that we at the Quindecim believe the whole nation, let alone all of humankind should prioritize. How can we uphold these values with a president who is comfortable inciting hate towards minority groups, and stripping Americans of their rights? We know that Trump intends to severely restrict reproductive rights, and criminalize abortion. We’ve seen how he encouraged a direct attack on our nation’s capital. We know the threat the The Heritage Foundation and Project 2025 pose to all LGBTQ individuals. If you are someone who reads this newspaper, or considers yourself the least bit informed, you understand what kind of president he has, and could make.
The Trump administration has posed a threat to journalists, too. They’ve seized the phone records of New York Times journalists, which discourages and threatens sources that help inform the public. Trump is also notorious for creating dangerous lies to uphold his own prejudices and ego. Needless to say, as a coalition of student journalists, we know that our obligation is to our citizens (our Goucher community) and the truth, and Trump has the interest of neither in mind.
Simply put, we want you to show up on election day, and we want you to vote for the candidate who will shape our country in the next four years. We want to speak out where other corporate-owned publications refuse to. Vote for the competent candidate that is not running on a platform of openly sowing division and bigotry. Vote for the candidate that isn’t looking to set the progress made on bodily autonomy and civil rights backwards. That candidate is Kamala Harris.
I also personally believe that we are far past due in having our first woman in The White House. I believe that she is a better representation of the average American than Trump could ever be. Many have said that writing an endorsement only by disparaging Trump rather than lauding Harris is “dispiriting,” and I would agree. But one commenter in the New York Times said it best, especially with the short time that Harris has been in the running– “I think it is fair to say that we still do not have a clear vision of Vice President Harris – but we have a very clear and present danger in Trump.”
Go out, go vote,
Sam Rose
Editor-in-chief, The Quindecim
