Logan Ramsey

News Editor

There has been a lot of talk about how this election was a turning point for our country. While this is something that gets said in every election, this hasn’t been a regular year. 2020 has been a year that historians will discuss and debate long after we’re all in the ground.

The consequences of our past actions are catching up to us, and how we choose to respond over this decade could define the rest of this century.

The pandemic exposed just how deep the division goes between the right and the left, even on matters of public health. It showed just how easy it is for our supply chains, built on efficiency, to crumble with scarcity.

For people like me who weren’t aware of the problem, the largest political movement in our country’s history woke us up to America’s deep systematic racial inequality. The system has been like this for too long and the protests inspired the previously unaware to call for justice.

The southern coast has been pummeled by record levels of hurricanes and the west coast has been scorched in wildfires. We’ve known about the changing climate long enough to do something, and yet our government has failed to pass significant legislation to combat the problem.

Americans had a monumental choice this year. Either elect a president who acknowledges how much work there is to be done and has a history of reaching across the political aisle or one who denies these problems and paints anyone opposed to him as the enemy of the people.

No matter where you stand on Biden versus Trump, it’s the responsibility of every American to respect the election process. If Trump had managed to win the electoral college, we would have to respect his election as well, just as we did in 2016.

I’ll never forget the moment when I found out Donald Trump would be the 45th president. I stayed up until the early morning watching election coverage. I kept watching until someone at Clinton’s election party came on stage and told the crowd to head home, and that they wouldn’t know anything concrete until morning.

I was scrolling through Facebook before I went to bed, and suddenly I started seeing Facebook posts calling Trump the new president. From somewhere in my neighborhood, I heard a firework go off in celebration.

As I processed the news, I was terrified of what would happen to our home over the next four years. It turns out that those fears were entirely justified.

Considering that Trump has not won re-election, we don’t have to find out what he would have done with a second term. I don’t have a crystal ball, but I don’t think it would have been good. In a different world, we could have been facing a completely different four years.

Trump went all-in on sowing division and a fear of change in the American public, and constantly spoke to the importance of law and order. Towards the end of the campaign, the Thin Blue Line Flag, created to show support for law enforcement, started replacing the traditional American flag as the backdrop at some of his rallies. His campaign became less about freedom and more about law and order.

I won’t speculate specifically about the numerous terrible things that could have taken place, but the evolution of the tone of Trump’s campaign speaks volumes. Historically speaking, bad things happen when a country swaps out its national identity for regressive ideals based on safety and security, and a hatred for who you view as the enemy.

After watching Biden win this fateful election, I’ve been renewed with a sense of hope that I haven’t felt in four years, even though I know the work is far from over. Trump may have lost the election, but incumbents on both sides of the aisle won.

The consequences we’re facing in 2020 aren’t going to magically disappear now that Trump is leaving office. The American people talk a big game about how they don’t trust the government, but when given the choice, they’ll choose the same incumbents who make the government untrustworthy. We can’t expect to see progress over the next four years unless new, forward-thinking candidates are voted into the legislature.

When Barack Obama was elected president, the nation became complacent. This can’t happen again, or else the Biden administration won’t be able to push for the progress that we so desperately need.

Now is not the time for complacency. It’s not the time for business as usual. It’s time for vigilance as we demand a great change from our government.