I’m the sort of the person will very little
political awareness within wherever I’m living in. When I was still studying in
China, I only knew that the name of our leader--“chairman” is just the same as
“president” on the western side, and that’s it--no idea of the new legislation, socioeconomic issues around the country or national political
events happening during the time. And same when I moved to Australia, I
still barely can understand the core ethics and purposes that each divisional
party beholds and what really Australia is about. But the intensity during the
election and public/media attention that I have witnessed at the United State
of America has stunned me in many ways. It feels like I’m part of the roles of
voting and changing the history. It feels like, for the first time that voicing
does matter and be cherished in the country.
Although I wouldn’t say the voting system is
totally fair and free of errors, after watching the election, it raises up so
much public concern that the media, the country has seldom heard of. It might
be astonishing as it sounded, I think what I saw out of the election, is that
America is consisted of two countries on the land. Many prominent local media
sources have failed to align with the actual thoughts of the people. The
majority has signaled their discontent with the status quo and feeling not
represented in the country today. Therefore for many of them, they have to
voice up their concerns, especially of their economic states. Their intimidating frustration
towards the lack of economic progress and the feeling of being stuck in a rut
have urged me to impress by how much freedom can be expressed in this country.
But at the same time, I’m worried because the price that the majority willing
to pay for is the morality and the preservation right for being an equal human
being, in order to achieve what they want. What I’m even more surprised and
shocked about is that the years and decades they fought to gain for what is the
social progress and respects for the vulnerable minority group can be abandoned
and regressed in the expense of more “actualistic” victory.
On the other side, there’s still half of the
country would like to be listened to their mourning and despairing, in the hope
that America’s foundation of democracy, America’s values and commitments to
social justice will not be changed overnight. There’s not going to be a sudden
stop protecting the weaker side just because one person is elected to be the
president. However, It’s haunting to imagine that over just half year, the
leaders of the country will switch enormously from democrats to republicans and
how much America will be affected by such. But I have a strong feeling that the
republican party has put on a mask to confuse people and in fact, it might not
be as bad as it was during the presidential race, when they are ruling the
country. So for the people that side with the democrats, I firmly believe
there’s still laws and people will fight to ensure you feel valued and
protected, regardless of your race, gender, sexual orientation, or legal
status.
Purposefully, I didn’t name
any of the presidential candidates in my article, because I really think a
leader is only one representative of a more cohesive force behind. The
political leaning is just like a playing on swing. Soon enough, the swing will
be back to the middle. Ultimately, it isn’t about who wins the presidential
campaign, but who can “make America great again”, who can break the icebergs
that America is frozen in to rescue the country. Though I have very limited
understanding and knowledge to comprehend deeper in the complexity/controversy
of this political debate, all I know is the eventual goal after all is to build
bridges between parties but not walls, the eventual goal is to reunite as a
country and move forwards with the world.
Written by: Nicky Li
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