Photo Credit: Felix Knight
Voting in this election is not just a civic duty reserved for ultra-plugged in political participants like me. Voting isn’t just about demonstrating that you follow and care about the political world. Voting—especially in this election—is about demonstrating that you care for your community. If you care about women, transgender individuals, Black people, immigrants, high prices, climate change, gun control, health care, affording a home or an education—if you care about anyone at all who lives in this great nation, you cannot sit this election out. This Presidential election is a choice between someone who cares about you, fundamentally, and someone who doesn’t.
I voted for Kamala Harris, because she has always cared about the people. She became a prosecutor because she couldn’t stomach the thought of her friend’s stepfather getting away with child sexual abuse. She ran for California attorney general and took on domestic violence and gun violence, while enacting programs to ensure that nonviolent offenders could reintegrate in society. She fought against the banks for their predatory loan policies, and won—giving that money back to the community. Her career in the Senate focused on lifting up the working class and bringing down costs. Her entire career has been about fighting for people who need someone in their corner, and right now, all of America needs a President like Harris in their corner.
Donald Trump has only ever looked out for himself. This has been common knowledge since way before he ever entered the political arena. He is a man found liable for rape, and convicted in a court of law for more than thirty counts of white collar fraud. He isn’t like you and me, and he doesn’t care about you or me. Trump is a person who isn’t running because he wants to change America for the better, but because he realized that winning this election is the only way to keep himself out of jail. He is repugnant—the list of vile things he has said about women and non-white people is near-endless, and he incited violence against our elected representatives. He incited a violent mob at the Capitol, and made congresspeople fear for their lives, people we voted for hiding under desks or in broom closets.
When Trump was told his supporters were storming the Capitol and wanted to kill his own Vice President, he said “So what?” He doesn’t consider anyone who disagrees with him to be worthy of simple liberties like living another day. He wants to deport legal immigrants and burn our economy to the ground. His pick for Vice President thinks women are subhuman, and the people he surrounds himself with want to create a registry of pregnant people to ensure abortion is punished.
Jill Stein is running a bad-faith campaign. She wants your vote because she benefits from the divisiveness and chaos another Trump term would bring. She doesn’t care about you, or the issues you care about. She doesn’t care about democracy. Stein thinks the war in Gaza can be solved with one phone call. She wants to bypass Congress, the Supreme Court, and the Constitution to institute her own agenda. Her platform—if by some miracle did pass—would cost Americans even more than Trump; she doesn’t actually care about the working class. I encourage you to look at Stein’s website, and really think about what she wants to do. Because she doesn’t actually want to do anything; she exists just to draw the Democratic vote and mess around every four years. Jill Stein is one of the only people in politics less qualified to be President than Trump; she is a medical doctor who has never once won an election.
I understand that we are all frustrated with politics in America. We live in truly unprecedented times–everything seems to be going wrong, and we are all paying the price. Still, I implore you not to waste your vote on a candidate who does not care about you. Goucher is a vibrant and diverse community, known for its population of women and queer folks. It is our obligation to ourselves and our peers to stand up for freedom and personal liberties. A Trump victory would work endlessly to abolish healthcare for women and transgender people, as well as gut the Affordable Care Act, thereby removing thousands of people from their insurance coverage. A Trump victory would be catastrophic for all of us, and I am pleading with you to consider the realities of people who might be less fortunate than you when you cast your ballot.
Maryland has reproductive freedom on the ballot—Question 1 would enshrine it in our state constitution. But all of that work is meaningless if Trump wins and institutes a national abortion ban. Maryland might be a blue state, but no state in this country will be safe from Trump’s fascist agenda. It is crucial that we pass Question 1, but it’s even more important that we have a President who cares.
I love America, and I love freedom. Unfortunately, the reality is that both are under the threat of a man who would sleep well at night knowing he destroyed both. This is the most important election of our lifetimes. We must turn the page on Donald Trump, and his selfish, pseudo-leadership.
Election day is Tuesday, November 5th. Maryland has same day voter registration. It is not too late to make your voice heard! If you are from out of state, you can register with your Goucher address, and the nearest polling place will be at Towson University.
Love,
Felix
By Felix Knight, ‘27
So true! I love Kamala Harris