Kirk Long
College campuses across America are “feeling the Bern,” but I am not. Before you call me a fascist, misogynist, racist, or any other “-ist,” let me explicate—I agree with a lot of what Bernie Sanders says, but he is not the solution we need. The Sanders campaign has arisen from the same political chasm that Donald Trump has—they are very different people, and I would much rather live under a Sanders administration than a Trump one, but nevertheless they both originate from a sense of hatred and disdain for our current political climate. On the right, Donald Trump plays into voter’s fears—fears of immigrants, terrorism, and other alien ideologies. On the left, Bernie Sanders has arisen as a result of Democrats anger at concepts like “big money” and a stagnation they see in the system. Both candidates promise sweeping reforms and to come into office as the messiah needed to fix our broken system, but that’s precisely what’s wrong with both of them.
When our country was founded more than 200 years ago, our forefathers spent much time crafting a system of checks and balances. Our country was designed to be incredibly inefficient but that’s what makes our democracy so powerful. The founding fathers made sure that no leader would be able to enact sweeping changes without the support of the legislative and judicial branches, and that those changes would have to be thoroughly scrutinized before becoming law. This inefficiency can be frustrating at times for everyone. In the 1930’s FDR was frustrated by Congress’s ineptitude as they refused to pass his “New Deal” programs into law quickly, and when they did he was often required to alter them to appease members of the opposition. The American people were frustrated that, as a result, it took America longer to recover from the Great Depression than other countries. In Germany, voters chose to give away much of their power to Adolf Hitler allowing him to make unilateral decisions to implement economic assistance programs without resistance from the German Parliament, which resulted in their economy recovering quickly, but also resulted in the Holocaust. Like Trump and Sanders, he preyed on a widespread dissatisfaction with the system, and he used that appeal to gain absolute power. The founding fathers knew the dangers of absolute power—it corrupts absolutely—and that is why Bernie Sanders is wrong for Democrats, Donald Trump is wrong for Republicans, and both are wrong for America.
Our political system is a frustrating one and certainly has its drawbacks, but our system is built on slow, thoughtful change, not drastic dictatorial shifts. It is dangerous to vote for any candidate who promises to be our savior. Fortunately, a Trump or Sanders presidency would almost certainly accomplish nothing either has promised—Congress and the Legislative Branch would shoot down their proposals at every turn. Unfortunately, too many voters have been swept up in the idealism of both candidates that they either cannot, or choose not to, see the realities of our government. I hear Sanders supporters say if Sanders doesn’t win they won’t vote on Election Day or they’ll write him in, just as I hear Trump supporters say the same thing on the other side of the aisle. Don’t waste your vote on broken promises—it doesn’t have to be all or nothing. The discourse is no longer discourse, but has devolved into shouting matches on both sides. Our system is built on compromise, so vote for someone who is capable of getting something done. As a card-carrying Democrat, I’m voting for Hillary Clinton. To my Democrat friends, I have one thing to say: keep supporting Sanders in the primaries if you want, but when Hillary wins the nomination I expect you to fall back in line and make history by voting in our first woman president.
