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Thursday, May 3, 2018
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
OPINION

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Edited and managed by students at 
the University of Michigan since 1890.

W

ith 
many 
people 
expecting Democrats 
to take back the U.S. 
House of Representatives — and 
even the Senate — in 2018, it is an 
opportune time to go over the way 
Democrats can continue to win 
and make gains going forward. 
Let me preface this by saying that 
I am not a Democrat. However, I 
do think they are preferable to the 
Republicans, and changing the 
party from within is a realistic 
way to achieve positive change 
in this country.
The 
Democratic 
National 
Committee has made it clear 
there is little room in the 
party for socially conservative 
candidates. Yet, somehow, they 
seem to always find a place 
for 
corrupt, 
warmongering, 
corporate 
stooges. 
Take 
their failed 2016 presidential 
candidate 
Hillary 
Clinton. 
Despite voting for the War in 
Iraq and being the architect of 
the intervention that has turned 
Libya into a failed state, she was 
fully embraced by the DNC.
Or 
what 
about 
Chicago 
Mayor Rahm Emanuel? Despite 
campaigning on a platform of 
strengthening the public school 
system, he has since met privately 
with Education Secretary Betsy 
DeVos, and is currently leading 
the largest mass public school 
closing ever in one U.S. city. The 
DNC still fully supports him.
Where do we draw the line? 
If these characters have the 

DNC’s full endorsement, why 
is it considered beyond the pale 
to get behind a candidate who 
just so happens to be pro-life? 
Something is not right here.
If Democrats want to not 
only win but usher in positive 
populist 
change, 
they 
must 
rebrand themselves as a more 
fiscally liberal and more socially 
conservative party. Now, when 
I say socially conservative, I do 
not mean they should campaign 
on 
failed, 
unpopular 
and 
immoral policies such as being 
anti-gay marriage and pro-War 
on Drugs. However, accepting 
those who are pro-life, skeptical 
of marijuana legalization or talk 
about “family values” would not 
be such a bad thing.
Rather than putting too much 
emphasis on social issues and 
refusing 
to 
endorse 
pro-life 
candidates, wouldn’t it be better 
if the DNC ostracized those who 
took PAC money and did not 
support universal health care, 
free college and a living wage? At 
the end of the day, it’s all about the 
economy. While the Republicans 
push ever further right toward 
oligarchy, the Democrats could 
really separate themselves by 
morphing into a party pushing 
for a government that is created 
by and for the people.
Social 
conservatism 
mixed 
with 
economic 
leftism 
is 
a 
winning 
strategy. 
For 
example, it fills a previously 
unfilled niche. Take the four 

biggest political parties: the 
Republican Party, Democratic 
Party, Libertarian Party and 
Green 
Party. 
Republicans 
are both socially and fiscally 
conservative. 
Democrats 
are 
more socially liberal but frankly, 
generally fiscally conservative. 
Libertarians are socially liberal 
and fiscally conservative and 
the Greens are both socially and 
fiscally liberal.
If you didn’t notice, only one 
quadrant remains untouched. 
Finding this niche and running 
with it would help Democrats 
not just to do better in red states 
but nationwide as well. What so 
few people realize is the biggest 
crossover vote in America is 
those voters who are socially 
conservative and fiscally more 
leftist. This makes sense, as 
they often feel as though there 
is no party that really represents 
them, and they’re right.
In 
the 
2016 
presidential 
election, the vast majority of 
these people voted for someone 
other 
than 
the 
Democratic 
candidate. If the Democratic 
Party embraces this philosophy, 
they could not only break up 
Republican hegemony in the 
heartland 
but 
become 
the 
dominant 
political 
force 
for 
years to come. Sounds like a good 
idea to me.

EMMA CHANG | SUMMER EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR

 EMMA CHANG
Editorial Page Editors
EMMA RICHTER
Managing Editor

Emma Chang
Joel Danilewitz
Samantha Goldstein
Elena Hubbell
Emily Huhman
Tara Jayaram

Jeremy Kaplan
Sarah Khan
Magdalena Mihaylova
Ellery Rosenzweig
Jason Rowland

Anu Roy-Chaudhury
Alex Satola
Ali Safawi
 Ashley Zhang
Sam Weinberger

Unsigned editorials reflect the official position of the Daily’s Editorial Board. 
All other signed articles and illustrations represent solely the views of their authors.

ASIF BECHER
Editor in Chief

EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS

ELIAS KHOURY | OP-ED

A new way forward

Elias Khoury is a n LSA sophomore.

Save student newsrooms
T

he 
press 
has 
always 
played a significant part 
in 
American 
society. 
Whether it was when our found-
ing fathers called for freedom 
of speech or President Trump’s 
condemnations of liberal news 
outlets as “fake news,” the 
importance of news outlets has 
never wavered. Similarly, col-
lege newspapers should have an 
equally secure role on campus-
es. However, recently, student 
newspapers are facing ever-
growing challenges that have 
forced them to either shut down 
or reaffiliate with their uni-
versity. Reaffiliation not only 
takes away valuable indepen-
dence from students, but it also 
reduces the integrity of the 
news and reporting that comes 
from the publication.
University 
campuses 
are 
microcosms of the real world, 
and what would the real world be 
like without the media? An unin-
formed mess. Or, at least, more 
of an uninformed mess. Student-
run publications provide a plat-
form for students to voice their 
concerns about the school as 
well as shed light on the issues 
that may or may not plague their 
campus.The paper provides an 
environment in which students 
can express their opinions and 
learn about their campus with-
out fear of being shut down or 
shunned by the university. How-
ever, as more and more campus 
papers lose funding, the voice of 
the students becomes weaker.
Additionally, a student paper 
that is funded by its university 
has a conflict of interest. How 
are student journalists supposed 
to criticize the organization that 
is funding them? Independence 
from their corresponding uni-
versity allows student papers to 
objectively look at the decisions 
of the university, much like inde-
pendence from the government 
allows media outlets such as The 
New York Times or The Wash-
ington Post to judge the actions 
of our government. We all know 
that the University of Michigan 
has had issues in the past with 
addressing their actions and 
decisions and had the Daily not 
been an independent student 
organization, 
these 
problems 
might have been ignored and stu-
dents would not be able to voice 
their anxieties about the Univer-
sity. Without student criticism 
and curiosity, how is a college 

campus supposed to improve?
The University of Michigan is 
not a campus free from scandal. 
In just the past year, we have had 
racist messages plague both cam-
pus landmarks and our residence 
halls while the University does 
little in the way of clear action 
towards change. The Michigan 
in Color section, MiC, provides 
a place where students can dis-
cuss campus climate and call 
out the University for surface-
level solutions and actions. The 
paper is a place where students 
can find support and informa-
tion about the more-suspicious 
behavior of their school.
The importance of indepen-
dent college newspapers isn’t in 
just content, though. Students 
create a tight-knit community 
when they hold the sole respon-
sibility of representing their 
organization; there is no paren-
tal figure in the university loom-
ing over their heads, threatening 
a “grounding” of sorts should 
things go wrong. The unique 
experience that comes from this 
autonomy should be something 
that students and alumni alike 
should work to give their peers 
and future generations.
College newspapers are also 
another way to help students 
feel comfortable on campus, and 
with more shutting down, there 
are fewer spaces where new peo-
ple can find their way. My first 
year on the Daily, I met interest-
ing people with diverse opinions 
and experiences in our Edit-
board. I learned how to move 
past the discomfort of having 
someone else read my writing. 
The Daily created a space where 
I could learn about the goings-on 
at our university in an accurate 
and objective way, without hav-
ing to sift through the nonsense 
of Twitter and Facebook groups. 
 
It should be no question 
that student newspapers are 
important parts of universities. 
They’re needed to not only main-
tain but also create conversation 
surrounding issues on campus. 
Saving student newsrooms is 
a pivotal movement that we 
should all care about and sup-
port. If you want to learn more 
and read about other universi-
ties, check out the movement at 
savestudentnewsrooms.com.

Emma Chang is a Business 

sophomore and the Summer Editorial 

Page Editor.

