Primary Issues

The right to vote is one of the most important fundamentals of a democratic society, no matter what your political affiliation may be voting allows us to cast our voice. I Recently, I attempted to vote in the New York state Democratic primary only to find frustration. This primary has gathered a fair bit of infamy especially in the New York City area. To avoid any potential criticism, it is important to point out that a portion of the responsibility for my own negative experience rests on my own shoulders but is disheartening nonetheless. While voting inaccessibility is still a major concern, I do not necessarily feel discriminated against in this situation.

For the past few months, the election buzz has been at a deafening roar as America weighs the options of presidential hopefuls. This unprecedented level of interest, fed by social media, has motivated me to take a more critical look at the electoral process and the U.S. government in general. A major focus of mine has been the disability perspective in particular; a candidate’s stances on policy and current issues has the potential to affect millions of disabled people, myself included. Thanks to efforts such as #CripTheVote, the brainchild of activists Alice Wong, Andrew Pulrang and Gregg Beratan, I have been able to to follow and join the conversation surrounding disabled politics. Leading up to New York’s primary, I spent a great deal of time researching and discussing "my party’s” specific candidates, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders.

As April 19th approached, I surprisingly found myself still a bit conflicted yet well versed on both candidates. I eventually made the tentative personal decision to support Senator Sanders with my vote, fully cognizant of the pros and cons. I felt excited to once again take part in the democratic process and for the first time vote in a primary. When Tuesday arrived, my mom took time out of her busy schedule to drive me to my former elementary school, our polling place for the past several years. I knew this location was accessible do to the amount of time my parents and others spent fighting for additional curb cuts, accessible emergency exits and an automatic door button, when I was a student there.

We got there around 4:30 in the afternoon to find very few people in line and the election workers to be very friendly. Unfortunately, I soon realized that my name was not in book and that my voting location had been redistricted without my apparent knowledge. Later I came to understand that I was not the only one in my area who had experienced this problem. I was a little disappointed but my resolve was not shaken, being adaptable is a must-have skill when you are disabled after all. Unable to get through on the local board of elections phone number that the voting workers provided, we decided to back in our van and head to the other polling location near my house, a detour I would not have be able to make using public transportation. 

After a short drive, we reached the correct polling station which for no discernible reason featured an accessibility logo on it’s ‘vote here’ sign. We were able to find a parking spot right next to the non-automatic doors of the church where the polling was being held. With voting attempt number two, the workers were again helpful and pleasant albeit a tad overenthusiastic about my presence. As I went to vote however, it turned out that I was apparently not registered with a party and thus unable to vote in NY’s closed primary. The election worker representing the Democratic party was nice enough to check my registration status on her laptop and give me a (rarely counted) provisional affidavit ballot. 

I was naturally a bit embarrassed and upset with the situation, after spending so much time and effort I was not able to share my electoral voice. Also, my voting experience was poor largely do to my own assumptions that I was properly registered and such. Overall, the lesson to take away from all this is, to quote Scar from the Lion King: “Be prepared!” I urge all voters, especially those of us with disabilities, to check and double-check your party status, polling location and the times of when you can vote. There are plenty of obstacles and fool play that can impede voting, this is as clear as ever, but each of us should do our part to take contribute to this grand experiment known as democracy. 

The Trump Complex

Donald J. Trump; whether you love him or hate him, he is currently the most talked about person in the United States. A man of seemingly little morals and even less class, hell-bend on taking the White House by any means necessary. Amid a tumultuous political atmosphere, he has emerged as the ultimate anti-hero of American democracy. In a time of deep idealogical divide and great uncertainty for the future, Mr. Trump embodies and amplifies the misdirected anger that far too many in this country carry. This ignorance fueled perversion of the electoral process, may literally be something out of an episode of The Simpson’s but is certainly no laughing matter.

To someone as politically involved as myself, Donald Trump represents the opposite of nearly every value I hold to be true. The reasons that I dislike him so strongly however, are much deeper than simply political differences, it is about morality. He is a person who relies solely on deceit, treachery and anger to accomplish his goals. This man also clearly has no problem scapegoating and insulting his way to prominence. Regardless of your personal views, these are not qualities we should see befitting of a true leader. Throughout history, there have always been harsh mannered bullies vying for power, it is when people begin to see them as viable options that there is a problem. 

Donald Trump is certainly terrible unto himself, in both ideas and in attitude, but the social and political climate that would allow him to be seen as remotely electable is the most disheartening aspect. The United States has once again reached a boiling point of rage; nothing short of Peter Finch shouting “I'm mad as Hell and I'm not going to take this anymore.” in the film Network (1976). Of the diverse demographics in our nation, white republicans (more likely to vote for Trump) have recently been polled as by far the angriest group. The Trump brand manifest as a political campaign has honed in on it’s target market, stoking the  embers of latent mistrust into a full-blown firestorm of anti-politics. The crass mob mentality of this candidacy, uses resentment towards the perceived establishment as a catalyst.

“I'm mad as Hell and I'm not going to take this anymore!”

This wave of anger that Mr. Trump is opportunistically surfing, is truly the result of much deeper series of problems. We are living in a time of biased, highly corporatized news media that values quantity of viewership over quality of information. Networks like Fox News and CNN keep us divided and fearful, profiting from our ignorance. Washington D.C. stands a nightmarish gridlock of power and ego, politicians more concerned with their paychecks and partisan  squabbles than the American people they are supposed to serve. We are a nation that has accepted the roar of demagoguery over the calm voice of frank dialogue. We have come to see anger as truth and those who are different from us as the enemy. 

The strange phenomenon that is Donald Trump’s bid for the presidency, shows us what happens when a society worships wealth and gives into ill-tempered  brutes. Mr. Trump will inevitably fade but we must ask ourselves, progressive and conservative alike, how did we allow it to get this far? My fundamental belief is that the vast majority of humanity is essentially good but when empathy is replaced by cynicism we lose sight of who we are. Stephen Colbert once said, “Cynicism masquerades as wisdom, but it is the farthest thing from it."