From 6:00 in the morning to 6:00 in the evening on Tuesday, Americans across the country will be crafting our new future. The 2024 election cycle voter engagement has already shot through the roof, with around 75 million people casting their ballots through early voting. People have waited in longer lines than ever before. Even at Notre Dame, a campus where most students have already voted at home or by mail, the enthusiasm at the chance of experiencing history is palpable.
For many Americans, Tuesday will begin the long journey on the road to normalcy. We can, once again, have political discourse that does not split families down the middle, alienate our allies abroad or promote bigotry and hatred across the country. We can once again have leaders who respect the peaceful transfer of power and do not threaten to incite another riot to get their way. Vice President Harris has been able to unite Republicans who put country above party, who are as desperate as Democrats to escape the terrifying reign that another four years of a Trump presidency would entail. A win for Kamala Harris on Tuesday would finally start to end the Trumpian nightmare of polarization, violence and vile hatred.
However, we do want to note that the status quo of the pre-2016 years was nowhere near perfect. Racism was an extremely common response to Barack Obama’s two terms. The Great Recession damaged our economy and made swaths of Americans feel like the American dream was unattainable. Overall, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness were not the reality for the majority of the population. In electing Kamala Harris, we have a duty to not just return to normal but to ascend to something greater. The American people deserve a better, more just future. If elected, Vice President Harris will be a leader and partner in making that happen.
Just over a century ago, women gained the right to vote. A few decades later, Shirley Chisholm was the first African American woman to campaign for the Democratic Party presidential nomination in 1972 — the same year that Notre Dame opened its doors to women undergraduates. Despite these monumental gains, misogyny is still deeply embedded in American structures and psyches, prohibiting Hillary Clinton from breaking that most difficult glass ceiling in 2016.
This week, Americans have the opportunity to write a different story. The 2024 election cycle will finally shatter the glass ceiling that has prevented women from becoming the most powerful leaders in the world. Kamala Harris will bring hope to millions of young girls who will see that there is no hindrance to achieving their highest dreams. As two highly political women leading College Democrats of Notre Dame who love our country and all its people, seeing a woman in the Oval Office means absolutely everything.
Tuesday night, countless Americans will gather in their living rooms on pins and needles, hoping this decade-long saga of hate, prejudice and division will come to an end. College Democrats of Notre Dame feel so incredibly privileged to have been even a small part of this historic undertaking. Both Tuesday and after, we will remain committed to making the American dream a reality for everyone. As always — go Irish, elect Democrats.
Olivia Anderson and Trista Brantley
seniors
Co-presidents of College Democrats of Notre Dame
The College Democrats of Notre Dame have agreed, along with the College Republicans of Notre Dame, to write a bi-weekly debate column in The Observer's Viewpoint section in the name of free, civil discourse in the 2024 election cycle. You can reach out to the College Democrats at cdems@nd.edu.
