Opinion

Thus, by refusing a peaceful transition of power and favoring partisan rhetoric over political unity, President Trump not only flouts a cornerstone of American democracy, but also threatens to initiate a period of intense post-election partisanship.

The imposition of a singular belief system on a multicultural society such as the U.S. is dangerously antithetical to the American tenet of liberalism. It erases the beauty of our country’s varying customs, traditions, religious beliefs and ideological positions, and ignores our unending effort to create compromise and accommodations along those lines.

That Americans have more confidence in Amazon than in the education system or Congress is troubling because Amazon is not invested in the well being of Americans so much as it is invested in convincing Americans that we need Amazon for our well being—and more, that we will never stop needing it.

While it is true that Congress had been unable to reach a compromise, and relief was running out and badly needed, by taking under his authority this kind of substantive policy-making Trump is giving a signal to Congress that presidential action can become an alternative to Congressional compromise. This dangerous precedent is the result of our current state of Congressional hyper-partisanship, under which American democracy cannot persist in the long-run.

Voting in its sense is an act of empathy. It is not selfish. It is ultimately the one act that we all do to contribute to a common good and a common vision for a shared future.

The disenfranchisement of formerly incarcerated individuals disproportionately affects communities of color, highlighting the deeply-intertwined relationship between our nation’s systemic racism and harshly punitive justice system.

We stand upon a precipice, and what we do in this election will either reaffirm our values and our commitment to democracy or further erode the institutions foundational to our republic.