5
OPINION

Thursday, June 13, 2019
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
5
OPINION

I

sn’t that headline so ironic, 
given that our president gained 
so much immediate coverage 
and support because he is, in fact, 
a celebrity? I know that we have 
had 
celebrity-politicians 
before, 
including but not limited to Arnold 
Schwarzenegger and Ronald Rea-
gan. If Donald Trump and Ronald 
Reagan aren’t two great examples 
of why we shouldn’t put celebrities 
in office, we clearly have some dis-
agreements to work through, but 
that’s not what this column is about. 
What about how we celebritize pol-
iticians after they enter office?
With the rise of social media, 
and the exploitation of it by politi-
cians desperate to capture young 
audiences, politicians are being 
viewed more as quasi-celebrities 
than public servants. In my own 
memory, this started during the 
Obama administration, and has 
only gotten worse. This treatment 
is dangerous — celebrity worship 
makes it more difficult to hold peo-
ple accountable, or to view them in 
an objective light. Take Obama for 
example: He is viewed (at least by 
Democrats) as the model president, 
the perfect politician. His likeness 
has been used in countless memes 
and novelty t-shirts, and during his 
presidency he appeared on many 
late-night shows. And while I do 
believe he was a good president, no 
president or politician will ever be 
perfect; in fact, Obama had a lot to 
be held accountable for that was 
glossed over in Saturday Night Live 
skits and silly merchandise.
Going into the 2020 election, this 
trend continues. One doesn’t need 
to be reminded how celebritized 
Trump is with his overdone rallies, 
infamous hats and tweeting tenden-
cies — and it’s not doing this country 
any good. With Trump’s amplified 
platform we’ve seen violent racist 
protests, a nationwide rise in hate 
crimes and horrific treatment of 
women and immigrants.
Trump is an extreme example 
of demagoguery given respect, but 
celebritizing politicians is a prob-
lem on the Democratic side, too, 
albeit on a less dangerous scale. 
We have presidential candidates on 
the cover of magazines and getting 
fashion advice from reporters. The 
people who will make decisions 
on war, healthcare, gun control 
and immigration are getting their 
crowd sizes compared like two pop 
stars on dueling world tours. 
Taking away the cultural lens of 
viewing politicians and political 
candidates is a double-edged sword. 

On one hand, conversations will be 
more policy-driven and maybe we 
can finally stop talking about who 
is more “likable” and start talking 
about who is least likely to ruin this 
country further. Yet on the other 
hand, popular media is a more 
accessible route to Americans, as 
not everyone wants to sit down and 
listen to Wolf Blitzer, but many peo-
ple will tune into Jimmy Fallon or 
Stephen Colbert.
So where does the burden fall? 
Is it on the media to stop treating 
politicians like celebrities, or is it 
on us? The responsibility truly lies 
with both. Stop inviting politicians 
on sketch comedy or talk shows 
and using that opportunity to play 
silly games or tousle their hair. 
And if you must have them, at least 
grill them a little bit. Don’t be their 
free advertisement — these politi-
cians are there to serve you, not the 
other way around.
As for us, the people, let’s make an 
effort to hold our elected officials 
and political hopefuls accountable, 
to view them through an objective 
lens. It is easy to get swept up in 
the excitement of politics — as a 
Public Policy student, I know this 
too well. You want to idolize these 
people, people who are in a posi-
tion you dream of being in, passing 
legislation you’ve fought for. But no 
political job should be guaranteed, 
and approval from constituents 
should be earned through good 
actions rather than likable, care-
fully planned interactions.
Washington 
already 
comes 
across as an exclusive place. The 
government that is supposed to be 
working for us is instead hiding 
behind free Smithsonian admis-
sion and chipper Congressional 
tours. It is natural to get excited 
when Elizabeth Warren calls you 
on the phone or Obama surprises 
the crowd on stage. But keep in 
mind that these are things that 
these politicians should be doing 
— we gave them their job, so they 
owe us their time. The exclusiv-
ity of politics only leads to closed 
doors and lackluster responses to 
real concerns and questions. If 
Congress won’t implement term 
limits, the American people can. 
Celebrities are celebrities for a rea-
son — there will never be another 
Bowie or Beyoncè. But the country 
is never going to run out of oppor-
tunistic politicians with a pocket-
ful of empty promises.

Stop treating politicians like celebrities

SAMANTHA DELLA FERA | COLUMN

Samantha Della Fera can be reached at 

samdf@umich.edu.

SILAS LEE | OP-ED

I

t is not often I wrap 
myself in the flag or get 
misty-eyed with patriotic 
sentiment. Perhaps this is 
because, as a history major, 
it is easy to get lost in the 
doom and gloom of most U.S. 
history classes. Or perhaps I 
am simply cynical by nature; I 
hope this is not the case — but 
maybe. In full awareness of 
this country’s missteps over 
the last two centuries — some 
of them egregious — I believe 
there are some moments when 
we can hold our heads high 
and proudly call ourselves 
Americans.
Now, as a member of The 
Daily, I also have great pride 
in this newspaper and the 
people with whom I work. 
Unfortunately, there was a 
grave oversight in last week’s 
edition: Not one word was 
written in the memory of the 
finest men who ever called 
themselves Americans — on 
the 75th anniversary of their 
sacrifice, no less. I was disap-
pointed to learn the stories 
that were published instead 
concerned only the political 
sticking points of 2019 — the 
issues which, by their nature, 
divide us. And so, knowing 
full well from the start that 
my efforts will be insuffi-
cient, I commit my humble 
talents to correct this mistake 
and honor both the sacrifices 
and triumphs of the men who 
fought and fell three-quarters 
of a century ago.
On June 6, 1944, Allied forc-
es, composed largely of Amer-
ican, British and Canadian 
troops, landed on the beach-
es of Normandy in northern 
France. Men plunged them-
selves into the raging, cold 
seas of the English Channel 
and marched headlong into a 

hailstorm of bullets. This was 
D-Day, the beginning of the 
end of World War II. It was 
because of this first assault 
that Allied forces were able to 
gain a foothold in continen-
tal Europe, liberate France, 
push into Germany and finally 
defeat Adolf Hitler.
I give this brief account of 
the Second World War because 
that war’s significance cannot 
be overstated. It was this war 
that brought down Hitler’s 
Germany and allowed a new 
age of freedom to take root, 
not just in Europe, but around 
the world. When the dust set-
tled, Nazi death camps were 
destroyed, fascism had fallen 
and the swastika lay atop a 
pile of rubble once meant to be 
the foundation of a 1,000-year 
reign.

I am not saying today’s 
politics are unimportant and 
should not be discussed. They 
should be. What I am saying is 
this: The memory of the men 
who brought down the Third 
Reich deserves our fullest 
devotion to preserving and 
improving the nation they died 
for. However, we cannot do 
this if we lose sight of our his-
tory and emphasize only the 
things which separate us. We 
are the heirs of a great inheri-
tance, and we should endeavor 

to deserve that inheritance by 
building on the foundation our 
forefathers lay — a foundation 
of liberty, equality and unity. 
In spite of our differences, 
we share this history and we 
share a future.
If nothing else, remember 
this: The freedoms we do not 
yet possess pale in compari-
son to the freedoms we cur-
rently enjoy. While we cry for 
that more perfect union, we 
must remember it will never 
be perfect, but it is good. It 
was good when it was con-
ceived. It was good when 
our soldiers fought their way 
across the beaches. It is good 
now. But we can make it bet-
ter. The torch has been passed 
to us, and we cannot allow 
this American experiment to 
fail after so much has been 
dedicated to its success. As 
we press on into the future, 
we must carry our history 
forward with us. If we do not, 
we will have failed before we 
have even begun.
And so, I leave you with the 
same commission that was 
given by Abaraham Lincoln 
at another field where Ameri-
cans fought and died for what 
they believed this country 
was and for what it could be:
“It is for us the living, rath-
er, to be dedicated here to the 
unfinished work which they 
who fought here have thus far 
so nobly advanced … That we 
here highly resolve that these 
dead shall not have died in 
vain — that this nation, under 
God, shall have a new birth 
of freedom — and that gov-
ernment of the people, by the 
people, for the people, shall 
not perish from the earth.”

D-Day, a legacy and a future

Silas Lee can be reached at 

silascl@umich.edu.

As we press 
on into the 
future, we 
must carry 
our history

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