Caroline Vincent, Executive Editor
@cvincentcourant
One of the biggest faults of our democracy is people’s inability to criticize one of their own. Whether it be Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, or Authoritarian, the insulated nature of modern partisanship not only permits inexcusable behavior by prominent party members but creates opportunities for politicians to become idolized in a god-like fashion.
The example that first comes to mind is President Biden. I do in fact support many of Biden’s policies, to the extent that if I were 18 last November, I would have gladly voted for now President Biden. However, I don’t think that just because I would have voted for Biden in the election means that I have to continue supporting his every move as President. The 2020 election was unique in that it was a matter of the survival of our democracy. There was no room to point out Biden’s flaws during the campaign, as they would just be used as ammunition by his opposition. As a result, many of his party members still cling to the panicked, fight-or-flight political response of the election, and support President Biden without the criticism necessary to balance political powers.
You would expect that four months into Biden’s administration, there has been some sort of heavy criticism, but this is not the case. The voices of individuals who do speak out against Biden, including fellow Democrats, are often lost in the sea of other headlines, pushed to the backburner.
Take the United States- Mexico border. For the past few decades, the border has been a cause of major partisan divide. Traditionally, Republicans pushed for legal immigration through secure borders with fencing, technology, air assets, and personnel. Democrats, although also wanting some form of border security, are more so focused on comprehensive immigration reform to prioritize targeting criminals, rather than families. They seek to embrace immigrants and reform the process of becoming a legal citizen. Under the Trump administration, Democrats were especially vocal in condemning border policies. Specifically, Trump’s zero-tolerance policy where 2,800 families were separated in 2018 alone. There is however little change under the Biden administration, and many prominent Democrats have fallen silent.
Like the Democrats, Republican voices have also changed. In what feels like a flipped situation, Republicans are now heavily criticizing Biden with the “kids in cages remark” commonly used by Democrats against former President Trump when photos of immigrant children behind chain-link fences surfaced. Republicans now accuse Biden of the very things that they defended Trump of. (It is important to note that Biden is not holding kids in the “cages” that Trump was, he has opened new migrant holding facilities. The opening of these facilities is one of the many things that sparked the conversation at the border. Based on pictures from the facilities, they however do not look significantly better than Trump’s.).
The border is a mere example of the apparent double standard, and lack of accountability between parties. Although it is most crucial that this behavior stops between top-ranking legislators. Many have turned our democracy into a chess game, and it is vital that we do our part to hold each other accountable. We need to separate ourselves from our political beliefs and party. We need to be able to critique someone that we voted for, be angry at a bill they voted for, or something they said, without thinking that we are “betraying our party.” Your party alignment does not confine you to the cult of an administration, so we must maintain the same values to both sides of politics, criticizing those we oppose and those we support, as it is the only way we begin to dismantle the dangerous partisan atmosphere currently building in our democracy.
