Kendan Bendt
Staff reporter
It is going to be voting season again in just a few short months, and voter fatigue is setting in for many. I know I have personally been tempted to ignore the ballots in my mail before. Unfortunately, the culture wars in our political sphere have gotten to a place where that temptation is no longer an option for me.
It is more important than any other time in my life that I vote this midterm season, and so should you, if you value the health and wellbeing of yourself and others.Â
The culture wars between Democrats and Republicans are continuing to get more and more infuriating, as Republicans more frequently take their literal and metaphorical masks off and show their true colors as Christian nationalists.
If that sentence shocks you, you have not been paying attention.Â
Marjorie Taylor Greene, Republican representative for Georgia’s 14th district, called herself a proud Christian nationalist on her Twitter.Â
I have heard it said that there is no point in voting because all Democrats do is sit on their hands while Republicans push for more and more power. If one party is the party of compromise and the other is leaning theocratic, what do you get? A compromise with theocracy? That’s still a net negative.Â
Except this thought process is deeply flawed. Joe Biden may be the most milquetoast candidate we have had in recent memory, but I would question that you passed high school civics if you suggested to me he has done equal harm to the country than a second Donald Trump term would have.Â
Ultimately, voting this midterm comes down to a matter of your values. If you are not going to turn in your ballot because the Democrat party is not good enough, then I would say you are making a foolhardy decision.
Are the Democrats policies ones that I think do enough? No. Am I happy with the way their leaders approach key issues? No. But there is a marked difference between hand-wringing and slow to act politicians who still verbally support issues like trans rights, and those who actively work to subvert or attack progress made for vulnerable groups.Â
Are they good enough? I would say no. I would even say they have not earned my vote, or yours. But between a party whose extreme end is Bernie Sanders, and a party whose extreme end is Donald Trump, the choice is clear.
If you needed a glaring example of the disparities in the two parties, look no further than how they treat transgender individuals in their policy making.
After several anti-LGBTQIA+ bills introduced this past year, Joe Biden signed an executive order targeting increases in access to gender-affirming healthcare and combatting conversion therapy.
In contrast, one of Donald Trump’s famous policy-by-Twitter choices was to ban all transgender individuals from the United States military. As transgender people are an underprivileged community with some of the least access to resources and support nationwide, their treatment by the two presidents creates a stark contrast.Â
This election and the presidential election in 2024 will set the tone of our national conversations around social issues through the rest of the decade. I want to live in a future where I am safe to be myself publicly, in my work and in my private life. And I want that for my friends, and for everyone across the country.
