Mark Linker
Opinion Editor
When sitting on my couch at 5:30 on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024, we have yet to know what the outcome of the 2024 presidential election will be. However, regardless of the results, there’s an undeniable truth that can be taken from this election cycle as a whole.
Since 2016, there’s been an uptick in voter turnout for each following presidential election. Along with the prominence of advertising through social media, presidential elections have become a staple of American culture. You’ll see people posting their “I Voted” stickers on social media, and sometimes actively promoting which side they voted for. This much emphasis on federal elections that are bound to disappoint at least half the country is bound to be unhealthy for a country as diverse as ours.
Giving the federal government this much power and cultural influence creates division, as there’s no way one entity can fulfill the needs of a country with such a large and culturally diverse population.
The American experiment works when it is conducted in small communities spread across the country. In many ways, the branding prompted by the 2008 Obama campaign and (to a certain extent) the 2024 Kamala campaign has been one of attempting to create a party for all Americans. However, I think this vision and expectation for America is bound to fail. The founders of this country conceptualized us as a melting pot of many ideas and cultures that were united under one banner, not with the cultural homogeneity of smaller European countries where strict alignment in values is more realistic.
A conception of the United States of the future is one where the realization of our differences as a nation is concentrated in local elections and communities where our differences in values can be put to use and where tangible results from voting can be more accurately felt. However, this also requires a stronger emphasis on local communities which have been in decline for the past few decades.
Local community spaces have been largely replaced with online social spaces and the movement of people away from rural communities to suburban communities. The decline of a religious ethic in America has ripped a common virtue from the American soul. This has caused an effect of failing to look at fellow citizens with the same humanity and empathy as was once the case. Even if two Americans came from separate parts of the country, and had different cultural, economic, and geographic backgrounds, they could still have a similar ontological commonality.
This destruction of local communities in favor of larger online spaces has created a system where the average American looks to the federal government and party affiliation as one of the only commonalities with fellow Americans. The problem with this system is that both parties are beginning to represent an America that aligns with very few common values anymore. A possible solution to this is redrawing and putting more focus on our tangible communities where we can effectively make change and where we have more in common with our fellow Americans. It is unrealistic to expect American citizens to become less divided when there is so much stake and attention on federal politics. Federal politics are bound to oscillate back and forth and very rarely represent the individual within the community accurately.