"I could think of no worse example for nations abroad, who for the first time were trying to put free electoral procedures into effect, than that of the United States wrangling over the results of our presidential election, and even suggesting that the presidency itself could be stolen by thievery at the ballot box."
- Richard M. Nixon, following his close loss in the election of 1960.
In 1801, Thomas Jefferson was inaugurated as our republic's third President. The world watched as his predecessor, John Adams, a man arguably as responsible for the nation's founding as any one else, peacefully handed over his position power following a remarkably contentious election. A precedent was set that day in our republic that the preservation of the system that these men had designed would be prioritized over their own interests and ambition.
Whether it was Nixon's quick concession in 1960, despite election irregularities, or Al Gore's concession in 2000, our elections have been set a part in the planet's history with our priority on preserving our less than perfect system. Our course this year is the study of where this system originated and why the people of our republic have such a deep faith in it. We may come to agree with this faith or we may come away wishing to challenge our two hundred year old system.
We will also learn this year that our system is frequently administered in significantly different ways depending on who is our President.
Leaving alone personalities and behaviors of the men currently running for president, that could be a entire month of blogger posts 😉, I am curious to hear about your thoughts about policy.
Only focusing on policy, please share one policy that you hope that the person who is our President in 2021 will act upon. You will identify a policy and briefly, only a few sentences, share why you wish to see a President commit to that policy. Here is a list of policies to pick from if you are unsure of what to choose, LIST.
There is not a need to share who we may support, only the policies we wish to see enacted and why that policy matters to you. Frequently, we agree way more on policies than do we agree on the candidates.
As is our practice, please reply to at least two classmates.
- The words "agree" or "disagree" are insufficient and easily misunderstood.
- Use this task as an opportunity to ask clarifying questions of one another or share what you may know about that policy.
- This unusual restriction that I am placing on this blogger post will keep this page as an open forum of exchange.
Well I have one policy that I feel very passionate about. But, both of the presidential candidates have rejected it which is abolishing or changing the Electoral College. So besides that I want to see action taken on Climate Change, such as taxing oils and natural gas. I think also rejoining the Paris Climate Accord would be good.
ReplyDeleteI also think that takin action on Climate Change is a very smart, which should including taxing oils and rejoining the Paris Climate Accord.
DeleteI also think that rejoining the Paris Climate Accord would be really useful, as it would mean taking greater steps towards delaying or maybe at some point in the future even removing the risks of climate change.
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DeleteI did not mean to delete that comment! Here it is:
DeleteI agree. The electoral college just naturally gives an advantage to Republicans, and that's an indisputable fact. It's been proven that a Democrat could win the popular vote by as much as I think 6 percent and still lose the election. Not to mention, I believe Republicans are overrepresented in the Senate, so it almost feels as though the entire system makes it harder for Democrats to pass their more policies, despite them being often more popular.
Yes! Climate change is a big issue that our future president needs to focus on.
DeleteI agree, the electoral college is only one of the oppressive tactics used by Republicans to ensure they have more of an advantage. Whoever has the most votes should win, democracy is that simple.
DeleteI hope that the person that is our President in 2021 will combat climate change and work towards environmental justice. Climate change is an issue that is one of the largest threats to our way of live, but it continues to be ignored, or not taken seriously, by our elected officials, even though California has been burning down and hurricanes sweep the nation. As a young person I am going to live as an adult in an environmental world created by the generation running for president so I only hope they stand up and think of the young people who have to live in the world they left us. I hope the next President acts on, or at least acknowledges that large threat of climate change.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that Climate Change is very important and that it is even more necessary now as California is burning.
DeleteI agree with you. Much too often, the people leading this country completely deny basic science and facts about the future of our planet. It is time for a president who listens to science and will approve solid policies to switch to cleaner energy and save our planet.
DeleteYes, I agree! I want our president to be able to combat climate change. Climate change is a serious issue and we need to address this as soon as possible.
DeleteI completely agree with this point. Climate change is huge and if we don't acknowledge this faster than we should, it isn't going to end well.
DeleteI agree. There has to be a president who truly cares for the future generations and actually tackles the problem of climate change instead of dismissing it and contributing to it like Trump.
DeleteThe policy I really want to see enacted is police reform. Specifically, in my case, I want to see police receive training for interactions with people with disabilities. My brother has Down syndrome and I am terrified that one day he will get stopped by a police officer and won't know what to do. You can picture what happens from there. There are countless stories of people on the autism spectrum or with schizophrenia being killed by police for not complying. In 2017, a nonverbal man was shot by an off duty officer in a Costco- while with his family- after some sort of minor altercation. There are many more examples of police arriving for a call about a person with mental illness, and beating or restraining the person rather than helping them. The current way police are trained is woefully inadequate, especially compared to that of every other developed nation on earth. The amount of time police spend in training should be much, much longer, and they should be taught proper protocols for when they interact with people with intellectual disabilities. I know for a fact that my brother, who both has Down syndrome and ADHD, would not be able to follow police instructions if they pointed guns at him and screamed at him. I am terrified just thinking about how that interaction would play out, so I really hope that by the time my brother is an adult police officers will be trained on what to do if they need to talk to him.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that we need police reform. The police really need to know how to interact with people with disabilities. Just recently I think some guy was shot because he was having some sort of episode.
DeleteI think a lot needs to happen with police reform. They should be more well trained in interactions with people with disabilities and also people of color. Given that I'm a fully abled white person and so is my entire family, I'll never really understand being scared of the police myself, but I almost get this feeling of betrayal. They should be protecting our communities, but instead they're killing them.
DeleteThis even seeps into the BLM movement. It all comes back to better, specialized training for police officers so that they know how to deal with anyone calmly without exacerbating the situation as they do much too often.
DeleteI feel the same way, and I also think that there are too many policies, like police reform, that need to be acted on and have just been left on the sidelines to other, less important matters.
DeleteI agree because some states only require a high school diploma or GED and only months of training at policy academies in order for you to be outside in the streets as a police officer in training which shouldn't be enough for someone to help enforce the law especially if they have not interact with people with disabilities.
DeleteI agree, the police have shown the they cannot handle situations that require anything other than brute force. Having the countries 'protectors' be made up of violent, unqualified, and biased people Is killing, and that shouldn't be acceptable.
DeleteI agree with this idea, for people with any disability. One who cannot speak, walk, and simply have a hard time communicating should not be faced with hostile officers. Its unfair and better training and awareness needs to be spread ASAP
DeleteI hope that whoever is elected for president in 2021 will take good action on any and all of these policies, but especially now to work on the pandemic. Yes, the other policies, like climate change, are important and should be talked about, there is a problem that is very prevalent as we speak, with many people dead or dying. A better plan should've been made and carried out to combat the pandemic, and hopefully no matter who gets elected this year, the president will combat the pandemic better than we have been handling it.
ReplyDeleteI also think that better action needs to be taken in the pandemic. Regardless of who wins, no more lives should be lost because of covid.
DeleteI agree that there has to be a better plan, a centralized plan, in order for us to better handle this pandemic.
DeleteI'm about to get super controversial, but it's incredibly important to me that Roe v Wade is not overturned. The right to bodily autonomy and choice over your own body is just a basic human right, and the idea that people want it revoked is completely reprehensible to me. I understand that this is ultimately decided by the Supreme Court, but the president could pack the court with pro-choice Justices (if they have the approval of Congress, of course) or issue an executive order. Anyway, for those reasons, I strongly hope the next president prevents the overturning of Roe v Wade, which isn't even supposed to be overturned in the first place given it's a super precedent, regardless of what it actually says.
ReplyDeleteI don't like the fact that Roe v Wade is a matter of controversy. If you're a person who opposes abortions, don't get one. People should always have the right to make that decision, so I hope the SCOTUS considers the values of liberty and personal freedom we have in our country and not the values of the church.
DeleteNoah, would like to dispute that this issue is as simple as if you don't like an abortion don't get one. Some people would not want their taxes to go towards medical programs such as abortions that they are ethically opposed to, so that would obviously cause at least some controversy.
DeleteI completely agree where the President definitely has some power and authority to initiate this. This isn't something that should be looked over, its a basic human right and I don't understand why it's being questioned.
DeleteMax, I'd just like to respond to your comment really quickly. The Hyde Amendment actually prohibits federal funding from going towards abortions, so that's not really an issue.
DeleteOne policy I think is very important is the limiting of the jobs the U.S. outsources to China and other foreign nations. This policy hits close to home for me personally because when I was younger, my dad had a part-time IT job, helping people with their computer issues and the like. After a couple months of doing that, the company was bought out by a Chinese company, and he could no longer keep his job. I think it is very important that this policy be acted on so that the United States can become more independent in it's economy, and not have to rely on China for a lot of the mass-producing that makes products sold in America. This is very important for another reason as well, that being that China has recently been stripping the human rights of Uyghur muslims, as well as lGBTQ peoples. As a result of these examples, I believe we as a country must distance ourselves from China as much as is possible, in terms of the economy and socially.
ReplyDeleteAgreed, We need to be aware of what's going on outside of America and at least try to prevent it but also, sanction China more, for their treatment of Uyghurs, and we need to distance ourselves more from China..
DeleteI hope that our President in 2021 will deal with problems with our healthcare, especially in the when dealing with the effects of a massive global pandemic. I hope that our future President will have an idea of problems with our healthcare system, and look to other countries for ideas on how to make it accessible and affordable for all. I hope that our future President knows the importance of healthcare-especially after a global pandemic that exacerbated issues within the system. I hope that our future president makes the healthcare system easier and fairer for people with preexisting conditions and genetic diseases.
ReplyDeleteThis is an extremely important issue, especially during the time of a global pandemic. Universal healthcare would not just help those with lower incomes, but also reinforce a system that works for the people, not to get their money.
DeleteI hope that our president for 2021 will uphold the policy of equality. I hope they can try to shape a world where a person is not defined by their gender, skin color or religion but the acts they choose to commit. Racism has been an issue in our country for far too long and I would like a president who is willing to fight for change. There are also muslims in the world who are being discriminated against because of their beliefs. As a muslim myself, it pains me to see what the world has come to and how muslims are being treated all over the world. Their suffering is being neglected and I want a president who can shine light on those who need the attention.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you, a president who can rule a country and sleep at night knowing that thousands of his/her people are dying everyday just due to how they look or their faith is obscured and they need to get it together.
DeleteThe policy I want to see a change within the next 4 years is abortion. This is well fought topic and many people share different opinions on such. However, I feel the future president and the government should push for the Supreme Court and do whatever he can. A woman should have rights to do whatever she would like with her body along with making whatever decisions she chooses to. The government and the people have no right to say what she can and cannot do, I find it very important that woman are able to have this right open to them without the fear that it will be taken away and I hope the future president can convey that.
ReplyDeleteI agree, autonomy is super important and giving women a choice is vital.
DeleteI agree as well. There are many causes for wanting an abortion and nobody should restrict that right from a woman.
DeleteI hope that our president of 2021 will focus his sights on climate change. Climate change is a serious issue that affects every living being on this planet. If action is not taken now to help slow the progression of climate change or put a halt to it, the Earth will become uninhabitable to certain forms of life which will in turn affect the human race. Climate change is a very real and a very big issue that has to be acknowledged. The effects of climate change are showing—the wildfires in California, the unusually hot summers and unusually cold winters, etc. The 2021 president has to tackle the obstacle of climate change in order to secure a stable and safe environment for future generations.
ReplyDeleteI mostly agree with this, but I'm not sure about unusually cold winters, I actually say we're getting warm winters, which is bad. There hasn't been any snow though, so that also shows the poor health condition of the planet.
DeleteI wrote about this as well! In reality, we won't have enough time to fix everything else that plagues our country if we don't solve the immediate issue, the impending end of the world.
DeleteI believe that one area I'm pretty much passionate about is healthcare, climate change, and Covid-19 Pandemic. I hope the next president(whoever it is), will be able to tackle this situations, because these 3 are central during a time where a pandemic is inflicting the nation, we need to keep the Affordable-Care Act, it provides healthcare to many people, and getting rid of it, would mean a loss of many peoples insurance. Not only that, we need to sign back into the Paris Accord, our world is at stake at the process we are going at.
ReplyDeleteYes, I think that these are important, but who knows if we can get the money for this. We might need another act that keeps up with spending money for this, especially climate change, as it is expensive to maintain. I believe this act shouldn't anger the people, but at least let them know what the president is working towards.
DeleteOh my god healthcare, the pandemic. these are huge issues I glossed over in my comment! I agree that they are big issues.
DeleteI agree. Healthcare is so incredibly important during this time and we need a president who actually cares for their people and provide universal health care.
DeleteI think that whoever gets elected as our new president should refocus and come out with new precaution strategies to protect the American people and fight against covid-19. Being one of the most advanced countries in the world, it has taken America too long to react and to stop the pandemic. I believe that we have the capability to bring this pandemic to a halt within a few months. However, due to the lack of rigid government enforcement, the consequence of the prolonging pandemic has caused the death of many. We can simply look at countries that have handled this pandemic well, for instance, Taiwan. They have brought the pandemic under control within a very short time frame. They have been able to accomplish this by mandating and enforcing the rule of wearing masks in public places. Their government imposes strict rules on quarantine policies, including fines and punishments on those who break these rules. The new president of the US should come up with a centralized plan in hopes of controlling covid-19.
ReplyDeleteI agree as over 200 thousand Americans have died due to the virus and there should have been a plan to fight against the virus since the president knew about the virus since December and precautions are still not being taken by some of the American people.
DeleteThe policy I would hope see happen in 2021 is the National Firearms Act which would help regulate who owns a firearm and who is able to own a firearm. I hope the next president focuses on this policy as this not only has an impact on adults but children as well because there has been mass shootings in schools because of unfit people owning guns which the government shouldn't have allowed in the first place. Furthermore, this policy should be focused on as children shouldn't have to prepare or practice school shootings.
ReplyDeleteI do agree with needing much more regulations about who is allowed to own a firearm as well, as in the wrong hands it would seriously injure or kill somebody, and if there is children in the house that'll pose a danger to them as well.
DeleteYeah, I don't think children should be shot in schools either.
DeleteWe need a way to stop the coronavirus pandemic, and I just want the next president to do this, because it has become a serious issue with waves of infections coming in. I don't care if I'm infected or not, we have people suffering right now from the virus because we always seem to just turn our heads around it, and say "there is no virus", until we actually get it. Some people don't seem to think the virus is real in the US, and we need to change that more. Even when they do know it, policies on the virus are weak, and they don't do much to reduce our cases. We need a policy that overall takes care of everything, another lockdown works, and punish people who don't follow so everyone can stay inside. I don't know who will agree with me on this, but I just think we need this.
ReplyDeleteAgreed, it's laughable how long it's taken us to even get a grasp on the pandemic.
DeleteI would love to see more work done to take steps towards a more sustainable future. Our climate changing is extremely concerning, yet little to no action is being taken. While myriad other issues plague our country, at this rate we won't last long enough to fix them all. It is saddening to see that so little policy and societal changes are made to save our home.
ReplyDeleteI agree, the idea that we can move forward as a society and change for the better is rendered irrelevant if we don't have a home to do it on.
DeleteI agree, the effects are already too dangerous and must be acted upon as soon as possible to make sure that we reduce the deaths that climate change produces.
DeleteI think that the person elected to be the next president should put effort into the protection of the Roe v. Wade ruling and into Police Reform policies. Giving women body autonomy is SO important, and the idea that the government can take that away is abhorrent. I personally believe that every single woman seeking abortion has a reason, and a right, to get one if they chose, and so giving men in the White House power over things they don't fully understand is absurd and wrong. I also believe that effort has to be made for police reform, not just in teaching them or taking funding, but rebuilding the entire system. Police officers have sadly proven again and again that they cannot control themselves and they cannot handle situations that require anything more than brute force. And as such, they need to be taken out of the situation if anything other than that force is needed, and another group of qualified, and unarmed, people needs to be present.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the notion that women should have control over whether they decide to have an abortion or not, as this is a form of control from people (specifically men) who are not in their situation, and it is way better for women to have safe abortions then unsafe ones.
DeleteI agree with this so strongly, because on top of the fact that people who have uteruses should have control over their own bodies, making abortion illegal won't stop them from getting abortions, it just means it will be done unsafely. Plus I read that certain procedures sometimes needed to save those who suffer miscarriages are considered abortions. Also, if a teenager wants to adopt a child, they wouldn't be allowed to due to maturity. But if a teen becomes pregnant then they are still forced to have the child, which just doesn't make any sense at all.
DeleteFor whoever the 2021 President is, I hope they act upon the policy on immigration. I would like to see the president commit to this policy as it affects the lives of millions of children in the system of education (including DACA) and their families all over the United states and my family personally. My mother and father came to America in search of a better life, like most immigrants. My parents have told me “ it's better to be poor in America than in their country because here they have medicare, they have food stamps, and organizations to help, over in Guatemala they don’t have this, so the question is why would immigrants come here? To answer this question I would say they came for a better life for themselves and their families. But what if they couldn’t come through the legal way, as it can take years, so many immigrants go through the illegal route and live in fear that they’ll be sent back where they might not be safe, or financially they can’t make it leaving their families. This would affect their children (whether they were American citizens or not) in developing emotionally, academically and environmentally. This is why I think the immigration policy should be improved as on it as the lives of millions could be affected for the better or worse.
ReplyDeleteThe one policy I hope Joe Biden will act upon (because Trump definitely wont) is police reform, meaning allocating some of the funds police get over to projects benefitting black people, such as education, healthcare, or better quality of living. The fact that black people continue to live in fear of our "protectors" is absolutely ridiculous, and should never be the case. The happenings of 2020, from George Floyd to Breonna Taylor to Jacob Blake are only twigs on a humongous tree of police brutality, and any of their killings should have caused reform. The deep rooted racism in our country continues to halt necessary change, and millions are beyond fed up.
ReplyDeleteI agree. The police should definitely have to go through a different way of training again and some of the money that is invested in the police should be going into African American communities.
DeleteI want to see a policy of carbon tax and enforcement acted upon. If trump wins, he won't act on this policy or on any other (except on a policy of nepotism), but if Biden wins I hope he will pass a carbon tax, because I care about the future of our planet. There are a lot of issues I care about, but I think we should focus on climate change because if we don't fix our planet, we won't have any issues at all. Or, for that matter, people.
ReplyDeleteI agree, helping to reduce the effects of climate change will definitely be a change that has to be done for our and the future's safety.
DeleteI agree. Climate change is a huge problem that people don't really talk about a lot.
DeleteOf the many policies that I hope will be introduced in the future, I hope that climate change is addressed by the next president. Climate change and the effects of global emissions have a very large impact on not only us but the generations ahead. It is crucial that we begin thinking about as soon as possible as the dangerous side affects are already being seen today.
ReplyDeleteI agree with this because if there's nothing done then Earth will become inhabitable quicker and quicker, and eventually if progress isn't made fast enough, many lifeforms will go extinct.
DeleteI hope that our new president will help reform the police. 2020 has been a bad year so far, and the actions of the police haven't helped. Our new president should definitely defund the police. They should take the money and invest it into African American societies. Schools should be improved and built, hospitals should be built, and better homes and apartments should be built. Overall, I'm very scared and excited for this election but hopefully our president makes the right choice.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the police need to be reformed, because a lot of media shows the bad side of it, and helping out minority groups could be helpful for their communities.
DeleteI hope that the president can help with a problem of racism. It's been something that has been going on for centuries, and seems stupid. Everyone shouldn't be discriminated for what their race is, it's better to try and stop it then not doing anything at all about it. Supporting minorities will make them seem equally as important, even if others may disagree.
ReplyDeleteI truly hope the next president has a good plan for improving our criminal justice system. There is so much inequity and Trump will only further the racial disparity that has existed in the system for so long. There are so many factors that feed into this unequal system that lead to devastating results, such as the high volume of contact with people of color that majorly causes the disproportionate rate of fatal police encounters with African Americans. There have been many supposedly "race-neutral" policies and laws that have had disproportionate impacts on young men of color, such as the police policies of "broken windows" and "stop and frisk". We desperately need police reform, which Trump definitely will not improve on. In order for this incredibly historically unfair system to actually help society and not negatively impact communities of color, we need a president who will actively make positive changes.
ReplyDeleteI agree strongly with this, the way that our current criminal justice system works there is a strong bias against people of color, specifically black people, and Trump obviously doesn't care enough to do anything about this.
DeleteI really hope that the next president will actually care about human rights, which involves reform in the criminal justice system (specifically racial profiling), along with more laws that prevent bigotry, and getting rid of some laws that allow bigotry. A very specific example is the LGBTQ+ panic defense. This defense allows people on trial for murdering someone in the LGBTQ+ community to claim that after finding out the person's sexuality or gender identity that they panicked and therefore cannot be blamed for the murder. Some states have banned the defense, but not all.
ReplyDeleteI would want to see the 2021 president act on affordable health care. The current "Affordable care act" requires tax or health insurance payment, and when it comes to the cost of drugs, not everybody can afford it. This idea to benefit everybody with cheaper medicine and better prices based on income is especially important during the current pandemic
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