The summer of 2019 was a politically pivotal one. Two Democratic Presidential Debates were held. Elizabeth Warren was outspoken and outstanding, wherever she went. Beto O’Rourke and Cory Booker actively competed for the Worst Spanish Speaker trophy, sparking thousands of comical Tweets satirizing their attempts to speak the language. Bernie Sanders “wrote the damn bill.” Kirsten Gillibrand dropped out. Amidst this confusing competition, Donald Trump received approval from the Supreme Court to construct the wall of his dreams. I religiously watched as much as I could from the corner of my room, actively attempting to forget about the Common App essay I promised myself I’d complete before summer ended.
With over twenty Democrats throwing their hats into the ring, with the third Democratic Presidential Debate held very recently, and with a lot of our very own Spartan Seniors becoming eligible voters in the upcoming 2020 election, it is worth listening to what these students have to say about their ideal candidates.
Bur before all that, here is what you had to know for the third national debate held in September. Who was there? Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Senator Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg (D), Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), former Vice President Joe Biden, Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Senator Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), Entrepreneur Andrew Yang, Former Representative Beto O’Rourke (D-Texas), and Former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro will be occupying the stage.
What issues were discussed? Gun control, an issue increasingly affecting the lives of ordinary Americans via concerning shootings, will definitely be one of the issues. So will health care, as multiple Democrats agree that the outrageous price Americans have to pay for a simple visit to the doctor’s office is unjust. Immigration and foreign policy will consume a substantial amount of discussion, as Trump’s (US-paid) wall in Mexico, tariff war with China, and accusations of violating the emolument’s clause of the Constitution are creeping deeper and deeper into our political fabric. These issues will be actively discussed outside the debate for the years to come, and while a single debate is never enough to capture the full scope of every single candidate, it still will provide a relatively accessible image of what each candidate advocates for.
With the brief digression out of the way, multiple Spartan Seniors were interviewed about their opinions on the upcoming election. Not surprisingly, many students coveted a change from what we have in the White House today.
Eli Coffey(12), President of the LCHS Speech and Debate team and Regional Organizer for the Elizabeth Warren Campaign, said, “The 2020 election is a cluster of way too many candidates. That being said, I support Warren for so many reasons. If I had to choose one, it would be that she has bold and well-thought-out plans. She’s done the math and knows how to pay for her proposals, and she knows what to propose to solve our nation’s problems from healthcare to rural revitalization. I’m not saying she’s god, but she does have a plan for all of us.”
La Cañada High School ASB President, Crescenta-Cañada YMCA Youth and Government Ambassador, and National Honor Society board Vice President Hailey Row(12) said, “Personally, I am a little worried for the upcoming presidential election because I think our country has become hypercritical of one another, and I think that this is a pretty toxic environment when we want to be objective and choose a presidential candidate. I’m not really sure what the results will be just because I was pretty shocked by the results of the last election, so you never know what can happen. I’m for Warren! But I don’t think she will win because I still don’t believe America is ready for a woman to be president yet. Maybe Joe Biden, but I don’t know for sure.”
On the other hand, a sizable number of students were perfectly satisfied with our current president.
“The 2020 election won’t be nearly as controversial. Trump is uncontested and the Democrat party is divided amongst themselves. As of now, I support Donald Trump because he separates himself from others. He’s not a “politician” and his policies and actions have reflected that in a sense of causing change and getting stuff done. If I had to pick someone from the Democrats, it’d be Kamala Harris. However, a large issue I have with Democratic candidates is their passiveness. To see someone angry and furious at times in a passionate way shows their level of commitment and devotion towards their cause, and that’s respectable to me,” said Christian Schmidt(12).
Some students were simply undecided, due to the overwhelming number of candidates and intensifying degree of polarization within the political spectrum.
“I don’t really have a hard candidate that I back; there’s too many choices who all seem to have the same base platform for their presidency. It’s all too polarized, too many far left and too many far right,” Justin Wang(12) stated.
Despite all this being said, there still remains the few crucial questions. Who will smile? Who will win? Who will return home with scores of political dollars blasted down the drain? We can’t make a single conclusion at the moment, since the sea of politics is too convoluted and controversial to do so. What eligible Spartans can do, however, is cast their respective votes during the Presidential Primary Election held on March 3, 2020 in California(easily remembered as “three-three”).
