2016 has certainly birthed an incredibly fascinating presidential race with some extremely interesting candidates. One of the candidates is under federal investigation for allegedly sending classified emails on a private email server. Another called for patrols of Muslim neighborhoods after the terror attacks in Brussels last month. One candidate has sparked a democratic socialist revolution that came virtually out of nowhere. Another has sparked a conservative revolution behind promises of wrangling the current immigration problem in the United States.
As this political tornado continues to swirl from state to state for primary season, more and more people are beginning to become vocal about their political alliances. On the day of the New York primary, I heard three people shout "build a wall" on my campus, which was more than what I was used to hearing. I am beginning to see more Hillary Clinton buttons and more "feel the Bern" shirts. I haven't seen much Cruz merchandise, but after the results of the New York primary on the GOP side, I am not surprised.
I am not going to hide my political alliances. I am very comfortable saying that I am among the revolution that Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders has started. I sent in my absentee ballot three weeks ago. I attended one of his rallies in Syracuse, New York. I am definitely "feeling the Bern." Bernie has attracted me through his support of a single-payer health care system, his attack on income inequality in America, and his promise to end the current campaign financing system. His campaign has been almost completely funded by voluntary donations by his supporters and not by a private interest group. For these reasons, and many more, I feel as though Bernie is the most genuine candidate out there. I am not saying that Hillary Clinton, Ted Cruz, and John Kasich are bad candidates. They are certainly capable people, and despite my own reservations about their campaigns, I am sure they would all make great commander-in-chiefs.
However, I am not going to give the same credit to one particular candidate. Donald J. Trump would be a disaster president, and there are many reasons why I believe so. He has declared a temporary ban on Muslim immigrants so that he can "figure out what is going on." To me this is highly offensive, but to my Muslim friends on campus this is threatening. I am pretty sure that my friends aren't terrorists, Mr. Trump.
He has also continued to perpetuate generalizations and stereotypes of the undocumented workers that he is working so hard to keep out of the country. Trump talks about every undocumented Latino-American person as if they are bloodthirsty criminals, while many are just trying to escape the hellish conditions that they face back home. Yes, there are bad apples in the bunch that do perpetuate terrible crimes among American citizens. He says on his website that the arrests of illegal immigrants include "tens of thousands of violent beatings, rapes and murders." In one of his more popular speeches to the public, he announced his plans to build a great wall on the southern border, proclaiming that the people coming into the country were "criminals" and "rapists." Let's say there are 100,000 rapes perpetuated by undocumented immigrants, as Trump indirectly suggests. With the estimated number of undocumented immigrants landing somewhere around 11 million, less than one percent of undocumented workers would be committing these crimes. Of course, I am not saying that these crimes are unimportant or irrelevant. Trump is right in saying that crimes committed by undocumented people are a major problem. However, one in five women are likely to experience some form of sexual assault on their college campus. If Donald cares so much about such violent crimes, why isn't the college sexual assault pandemic headlining his campaign?
Overall, there is one major reason why Donald J. Trump will never get my vote. Aside from all of the hate that his ideals represent, and all of the incredibly sexist remarks he makes to the public, there is one issue that he completely denies exists that will soon change how we all live. I am talking about climate change.
Trump has consistently denied the existence of man-made climate change. In an interview with Fox and Friends, he stated that global warming “is just a very, very expensive form of tax. A lot of people are making a lot of money.” I beg to differ, Mr. Trump. There are droves upon droves of scientists who say that climate change is happening and it is likely the result of human actions over history. There are mountains of evidence proving climate change exists. People all over the world are urging that actions need to be taken before it is too late (if it isn't already too late.)
A recent article in the New York Times summarized recent study results on climate change, which showed that an abrupt climate shift is becoming more and more likely and such a shift will happen within decades, not centuries. Millennials, we may very well see what a climate shift looks like within our lifetime. According to the research, such a shift could cause a drastic change in weather patterns, including much stronger storms.
One major area of evidence that we are beginning to observe is increases in temperatures across the globe. Ice caps and glaciers are melting and disintegrating into the ocean at alarming rates. This excess melting is raising the sea level. Many experts believe that some of our biggest coastal cities could one day be flooded and lost forever. Another issue with the increase in temperatures is a more-conditioned breeding ground for new communicable diseases. These diseases could sweep across countries and devastate large masses of humans before we are able to find a cure. Many scientists believe that a global pandemic is likely sometime within our future.
Scientists who urge the existence of climate change would generally agree that drastic and bold action was needed to combat climate change years ago. Some countries have made efforts to reduce their carbon footprint, but the efforts have all but made a difference. The world would need nearly every country on board with the plan and carbon emissions would have to be cut radically.
And yet, one of the major candidates hoping to become our next president, a major candidate who recently won every single county in New York with the exception of Manhattan (good job Kasich), believes that climate change is a hoax for liberals to make money. This means four years of the United States spending much less time focusing on this global health issue (and that's if he doesn't get re-elected). People, we can't afford four (or eight) more years of no major efforts to curb climate change. We don't have that kind of time. We need drastic change now. This is yet another reason why I support Bernie Sanders. At the Syracuse rally that I attended, he proclaimed that “climate change is real, it is happening.” I know that Bernie will dedicate part of his presidency toward minimizing our carbon emissions and promoting an overall greener society.
If you are considering voting for Donald Trump, and you care about the future of the planet, I strongly urge you to reconsider. I would strongly encourage everyone to rethink voting for such a hateful, impractical and foolish person to be our next commander-in-chief. In the end, I can't tell you who to vote for. I hope that you at least go out and vote because exercising such a right is important (and it feels good). Just remember that the planet is in dire need of human action to hinder climate change. We need a leader who will take action, or at least one who believes the issue exists.