By Cody Fitzgerald
Campus News
I think it’s only appropriate that I make my grandiose return in time to force some politics down everyone’s throats, right? Here goes nothing.
June 28th, doubling as INTERNATIONAL CAPS LOCK DAY (NO JOKE), is also going to be New York’s first gubernatorial primary. Democrats get to vote for the Democrats, and Republicans get to vote for the Republicans. To be as clear as possible, it is important to clarify that you’re not actually voting someone into office, but rather giving both administrations a clear idea of who is being generally favored by the public, and allows them to plan accordingly; meaning that (although discouraged regardless), there is zero need for you to incite an insurrection this time around, so please do not do that.
I’m not going to get into each individual candidate, because we’re all friends here and let’s be frank, I can’t possibly do this unbiased. I am going to say that you should absolutely read up on the candidates, and you can do that on ballotpedia.org. Here, you can find information on every candidate running, get some insight into their platform and what they stand for and know what you are voting on. I’ve said this every election cycle since I started writing, but right now it is CRUCIAL for women’s rights, LGBTQIA+ rights, people of color’s rights, the climate and the sake of our democracy, on top of so much more. If you’ll indulge me, I really want to take some of this time to clear up some misconceptions about every going on right now:
• The President/Governor does not decide gas prices: While there is some influence they have over the situation, they do not get the final decision, and this is largely due to price gouging from big oil companies (who have been reporting record profit lately).
• Critical Race Theory is not anti-white brainwashing: CRT, in practice, is about teaching children the ENTIRETY of our history and not just what has been carefully included in textbooks. While it acknowledges a racist history, this is not to teach children to dislike white people.
• Not every Republican is a Trump Republican: I think, admittedly, on both sides of the aisle everyone wants to associate a Republican with Trump, and this is simply not true. Look into the issues and the people, not just the letter next to their name.
• Defund the Police does not mean Defund the Police: Democrats have been consistent in one area and it is their absolutely terrible marketing. Defund the Police implies restructuring the police and reallocating to better training and new departments, and this does not imply the removal of police.
There’s much more I could delve into and I’d encourage you to do some research on it, but for now, that’s what I’ve got. It is incredibly important you vote right now, because at a time where we are more divided than ever, you need to make your voice heard. Even if you think that you will vote with the masses, or your vote will be overshadowed, these facts cannot be true unless everyone does their civic duty and gets out there on June 28th. If you are not registered, you can get it done in about 5 minutes right now, and all you have to do is go to ny.gov/services/register-vote. If you don’t know where you can vote, or what times, go to voterlookup.elections.ny.gov. They’ve made it easy, now go out and get your voice heard this month.
Cody Fitzgerald is a 2021 Schuylerville High School grad satirizing anything and everything he can get his hands on. Aspiring to become “one of the cool” High School English teachers, he now attends Siena College and hopes to share this outlook/coping mechanism with future generations.
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