If you’re anything like me, you have been stuck in the endless cycle of political news. Almost four times a day, like clockwork, I get updates from The New York Times and The Atlantic. And if I’m honest, it’s a lot to choke down. Every day, updates on domestic and foreign news make my head spin.Â
As a political science major, I feel it’s my duty to try to understand everything that is happening in our world. Every day, as I sit in my Classical Quest for Justice class, I try to piece together Socrates and Plato’s arguments, hoping they will help me better understand modern-day politics. My fellow political science majors share this excitement: the ability to piece together sacred texts together with our current political climate. But I find it crazy. I say, “How did they know things like this would happen? How can ancient writings still hold value in modern-day politics?” It makes me realize that history comes in cycles. It’s hard to recognize the cycle we’re living through while we’re still inside it, but from a distance, history’s patterns become much easier to see and understand.
In my Liberal Democracy class, I was assigned a paper asking me to argue whether I would rewrite the Constitution or keep it as it currently stands. I mulled over this prompt for days before finally understanding what to write. In class, my professor pointed out that the Founding Fathers had plans for our future as Americans—one in which we would not be subjected to tyrannical rule. One where a king would never touch us again. They set out to meet within the Constitutional Convention and ultimately write our founding document. If you can’t tell yet which side I picked, I chose to argue to keep the Constitution. However, even the oldest doctrines need a refresher to accommodate the current political climate.
In political philosophy, there are constitutionalists and textualists. A constitutionalist is someone who believes we should follow the Constitution as written. They believe it’s fixed and should never be changed. On the other hand, textualists believe we should focus on the plain meaning of the text at hand instead of concentrating on the drafter’s intentions. In my opinion, we should seek to understand the Constitution’s history, but should also amend its words as time progresses. The amendment process was created with the future in mind, recognizing that someday we would need to change the Constitution to reflect contemporary understandings of the political climate. For example, the 19th Amendment and the Equal Rights Amendment were passed precisely because people saw the need for Constitutional change. (Although the E.R.A was never ratified, I believe it’s important to include.)
Despite the challenges of the Constitution’s ratification process, we expect the systems established within the document to continue to protect the people. I can understand that it may not always feel this way, especially in today’s political climate marked by stark polarization, where both sides disagree with such vigor that it leaves me wondering if politics were ever civil.Â
Civility is important. Personally, I feel upset that we go against one another with such hate in our souls. I attend a predominantly liberal school, where people’s opinions are often so hard-set that it can be hard to have a conversation. I feel like, as a community, we have forgotten that political affiliation is bred from upbringing. The way we are raised greatly influences the people we grow into. Although I grew up in a military family, I was still raised to treat people with respect and to believe that anyone could be who they wanted to be. My parents never forced political views on me; in the military, most people, like my dad, try to maintain a somewhat moderate perspective. That doesn’t mean they don’t share how they truly feel, but it does mean that they keep a high guard when it comes their political beliefs.
I believe that our future is not set in stone. As much as people in my political science major hate to hear it, we are the future of American democracy. The things we learn in our political science classes will help us form opinions that will one day shape our political system. Although the Republicans have a majority in Congress, it’s important to understand that this is a normal feature of democratic politics. However, things can change with time. We can become less polarized and try to change the way our systems work. We are the future.
Although we live in a time when it feels like we are being ruled over, it does not mean that this has to continue. “We the People,” hold the power to fix the corrupt systems that maintain a grasp on power. Although it’s naive, I believe that we, the public, hold the power to create a more beautiful and peaceful America.
