Here’s the Real Reason Why You Should Vote Democrat in 2020
By: Brooklyn Reece
Tags: Politics, Society, Elections, Trump, Government

Here’s the Real Reason Why You Should Vote Democrat in 2020

It’s deeper than just Trump

Photo by Element5 Digital on Unsplash

The 2020 election is sure to be one of the closest and most critical elections in history.

For one, our country is more divided than ever before. The two-party system has brought us more unrest than we ever could have anticipated.

We’re struggling with checks and balances. Even though he ran as a Republican, our President doesn’t even have a majority of the party’s support, and his conservatism borders past any two-party lines. On the other hand, our legislative branch is also split into two — the House of Representatives is majority Democrat, while the Senate swings problematically Republican.

But here’s the one we don’t think about: the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court is exactly the reason why we should be voting Democrat in November.

Because here’s the thing: the Supreme Court is already leaning conservative. Already in his presidency, Donald Trump has taken advantage of the ability to appoint two more conservative justices on the Supreme Court, which means the Supreme Court leans dangerously in the conservative direction. Generally, the whole idea of having nine justices on the court is to have at least one swing vote in order to even out the assessment and interpretation of the law.

There’s one more kicker, though: as many of you may know, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is currently 87 years old. She’s been serving as a Democrat on the Court since 1993. If we lose her, we forfeit any sort of balance on the Supreme Court, as Donald Trump will inevitably appoint another conservative. In fact, he’s already been drafting a list of possible appointees, one of which is Ted Cruz (previously a 2016 presidential candidate). Cruz has previously spoken out against abortions and women’s healthcare specifically, citing that even in cases of rape or incest, women should be forced to carry a fetus to term.

So why does that mean we need to vote Democrat?

Well, Ginsburg, especially with her frequent and difficult battles with cancer, is becoming frighteningly close to retirement (which in her case is, essentially, death — dare I say it). She is completely set on serving for as long as she is physically able, so it’s unlikely that anything other than death will cause her to resign from the Court. However, we’re on thin ice. Even in 2016 we were doubtful that Ginsburg would make it through the four years of Trump’s presidency. Now, it’s nearly impossible that she could make it through the next four, which brings us here:

Voting for Biden will enable us to restore some of the balance in SCOTUS, and thus, in the rest of the government.

Even if we aren’t thrilled about voting for Biden, maybe we don’t view it as us enthusiastically voting for him. Maybe we view it as us enthusiastically voting to keep Ginsburg. And to appoint a well-rounded, balanced, Democratic justice when she does eventually have to stop serving.

Basically, a vote for Biden isn’t just a vote for the Democratic party. It’s also a vote for who will replace Ginsburg.

So why should we care about who replaces Ginsburg?

Well, for one thing, having a conservative-leaning court does, as I previously mentioned, affect the balance of our government. Without at least one swing vote, we hardly have a fair shot at assessing the law and evaluating it holistically. If the Court leans in one way or another, we’re doomed for the majority to always win, which, in this case, is not the desired outcome.

Additionally, one of the most important principles of our government is the separation of church and state. With a conservative-leaning court, we become frighteningly close to the violation of that principle. For instance, in hotly debated topics like whether LGBTQ people have the right to marry, conservatism often sites religion as a reason for opposing such rights. The same often goes for abortion and the right to receive contraceptives and/or comprehensive sex education. At the end of the day, there is purely no reason why LGBTQ people should not have the right to marry, besides the fact that the Bible arguably prohibits it. Given separation of church and state, though, it isn’t ethical of us to use the Bible as any form of justification for the law.

From a broader perspective, people’s rights, in general, are at stake. Women’s rights are at stake when they are threatened with the possibility of abortion bans, especially those that do not make exceptions for rape or incest. Rights are at stake for sexually active individuals when they are refused adequate or affordable contraceptive access. The rights and future of young people is at stake when it is deemed unconstitutional to provide comprehensive, preventative sex ed in American schools. The rights of LGBTQ people are at stake when states try to revoke their right to marry, or insist that businesses and corporations have a right to discriminate against them for their sexuality or gender. BIPOC people’s rights are at stake when their right to be hired without discriminatory practices is critiqued and overturned.

One of the biggest dividers in politics is people’s perception of governmental function. Does government exist to help protect people, even if individual rights and opinions are sometimes sacrificed? Or does government exist primarily to protect those rights, even if discrimination and oppression ensues? Traditionally, the Democratic party identifies with the former, and it’s hard to bring us all together to one side and agree.

The bottom line, though, is that we need balance. Regardless of party, we all deserve to have a government where we can feel fairly represented; a government whom we can trust not to be corrupt, to legitimately assess and interpret the law, and to protect citizens as best it can.

With as much corruption as we have already seen, we can’t afford any more.

It’s time for us to vote Democrat. Not for the sake of Biden.

But for the sake of our rights, our sanity.

And for the possibility that we may one day unite again.

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