The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Opinion
6 — Wednesday, August 10, 2022
BRANDON COWIT
Managing Editor
Stanford Lipsey Student Publications Building
420 Maynard St.
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
tothedaily@michigandaily.com
Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan since 1890.
VANESSA KIEFER
Editor in Chief
Pay attention to your local elections
E
very
four
years,
we
are
hounded
with
constant
reminders
to
vote in the upcoming presidential
election.
Phone
calls,
television
advertisements,
news
segments,
social media posts and more are
indicators that we should head to
the polls and cast our ballots for a
specific candidate to take the highest
office in the United States. We deem
this measure, voting for a single
government official at the top of our
government, to be the most important
impact we can have on democracy as
voters, and I would agree that this is
somewhat true.
While
electing
federal
representatives — such as your
president, your senator and your
district’s U.S. House representative —
are key choices, the most important
choice we can make at the ballot box
is choosing our local representatives.
For the past few weeks, the lawns
in my neighborhood have become
littered with signs advocating for
certain candidates, and the sheer
number of advertisements I have
seen and voicemails I have heard
sponsored by hopeful contenders
make
me
feel
flooded
with
information. Still, no matter how
many commercials and informational
flyers we are exposed to every day,
we are never as rallied to vote in our
local elections as we are in national
ones. If we don’t focus on local
politics with equivalent enthusiasm,
we fail to fully engage with the issues
that matter the most to us.
As opposed to the federal level,
where there are typically longer
waits between election cycles, local
elections occur every year. Although
they take place more often and there
are more positions up for grabs,
there is a certain level of confusion
as to which roles in government are
available at the local level and what
exactly they do. In order to better
immerse ourselves in politics, we
must be able to clearly understand
what we are voting for; a major reason
why voter turnout is low is because
of uncertainty about who and what
we are voting for, along with unclear
voting rules. We tend not to notice that
the local level of government almost
exactly resembles the structure of
our federal government: each city
and town has its own executive,
legislative and judicial branch. Not
only are their foundations similar,
but their importance can be equated
as well — local politics are just as
important, if not more important, as
the contests on the national stage.
The outcomes of local elections
determine the fate of the issues that
are most impactful in our everyday
lives. The officials that we elect
to our city councils and mayoral
offices directly serve our community
interests: matters such as schooling,
housing and public safety are affected
by the decisions made by our local
representatives. Local elections are
concerned with local issues, which,
whether we acknowledge it or not, are
policy choices that we interact with
every single day. The decisions that
our municipal and county officials
make are essential in determining
our quality of life as we interact with
our neighborhoods. Often, the closer
the representatives are to us, the
more meaningful their policies are to
our day-to-day lives.
Despite the essential nature of our
local government, voters still tend to
pay less attention to these elections
as compared to those at the national
level. We tend to view the presidency
as the most important position in
the U.S. government, but, in reality,
our state and city officials are the
ones assigned to protect and care for
their community members in a more
attentive fashion. Local politicians
are responsible for the welfare of
their localities and must pay attention
to the needs and interests of a much
smaller number of constituents.
In taking our votes in our local
races more seriously, we can make
real change in our neighborhoods
and
elect
officials
whose
sole
responsibility is to act in accordance
with our best interests.
Not only do the outcomes of
local elections mean more for our
livelihoods, but our votes tend to
mean more as well. A recent upsurge
of voter apathy is a result of the lack
of faith in the democratic process,
especially at the national level.
Voters are becoming increasingly
unsure if the casting of their ballot
makes any real difference, but, when
it comes to voting for a city council
representative or district attorney,
our voice at the polls is much more
effective. With fewer voters involved,
as compared to a presidential election,
a single vote for a local politician has
the potential to affect who gets a seat
at the table. Not only do local politics
impact us personally, we as voters
have the power to alter the future of
our communities when we cast our
ballots.
With continuously high voter
turnout rates, the voting population
of Ann Arbor must actively focus
their energy into local races. This
election
cycle,
nine
Washtenaw
County commissioners, the mayor
of Ann Arbor and Ann Arbor City
Council members were up for
election — all positions that will
impact both University of Michigan
students and permanent residents of
the city. A ballot measure concerning
public transportation funding was
also approved in Tuesday’s election,
a choice that will drastically impact
the community and improve current
transportation
services.
These
choices weigh heavily on the county,
the city and the University, and it is
essential that those able to vote in
these elections take the time and care
to do so in future election cycles.
While political disinterest grows
each day at the national level, we
must avoid complete detachment by
turning the conversation towards
the importance of local issues.
QUIN ZAPOLI
Editorial Page Editor
Republicans are out of touch with
Americans on the most polarizing issues.
History says that won’t matter this
November
DEVON HESANO
Opinion Columnist
The way our society socializes men is not
only disappointing but heartbreaking
ANNA TRUPIANO
Opinion Columnist
F
rom the time they are
young boys, men are
taught not to talk about
their feelings for fear of showing
weakness. This mentality robs
them of the opportunity to explore
their feelings and ultimately causes
them to push those feelings aside
or reject them entirely. Those
emotions tend to become bottled
up rather than talked about and
worked out in healthy ways.
Many statistics are available to
demonstrate this learned emotional
repression. For instance, only about
one-third of people in therapy in
the United States are men. In 2020,
the suicide rate among men was
nearly four times higher than that
among women. Most alarmingly,
98% of recorded mass shootings
in the United States have been
committed by men. Over 93% of
federal inmates are men, compared
to 6.8% being women.
The problem lies in our society’s
association of masculinity with
athleticism,
power,
money
and
sexual conquest. It is not far-fetched
to think these associations could be
related to historical gender roles,
which still prevail today. Men
were historically entitled to power
while women were subordinates.
This power dynamic has caused
disturbing gender inequality impacts
across the globe. These impacts
range from female genital mutilation
to removal from the home during
menstruation
and
“honorable”
murder as a way to rid families of the
shame from a woman’s rape.
While we are less likely to
experience those extreme examples
of gender inequality in the United
States, the flawed characteristics
we associate with masculinity are
constantly reinforced in pop culture,
thus creating a breeding ground for
hypermasculine values to flourish.
For example, the language in hip-
hop music leans toward violence and
sex, including derogatory remarks
toward women and homophobic
slurs.
T
his week, amid urges by
Justice Clarence Thomas
to look at overturning
cases
such
as
Obergefell
v.
Hodges,
which
legalized
gay
marriage nationwide, the House of
Representatives voted on a bill that,
among other provisions, would
guarantee marriage equality for
LGBTQ Americans. While the bill
passed easily, the vote helped to
once again illustrate a harsh reality:
The Republican Party is completely
out of touch with mainstream
America on the majority of hot-
button issues.
Just 22% of House Republicans
voted in favor, while all House
Democrats supported the bill.
The 22% number serves in stark
contrast to American support
at large. A record-high 71% of
Americans
support
marriage
equality, including 55% of those
identifying as Republicans. That
means the House GOP isn’t just
out of step with America — it’s out
of step with Republican voters.
And while it’s too early to tell how
many Senate Republicans will vote
in favor of the bill, or if the bill will
even have the 60 votes to pass, it’s
virtually guaranteed that nowhere
near 55% of Republican Senators
will support the bill, let alone 71%.
But the Republican lack of
awareness on marriage equality
isn’t the exception — it’s the norm.
Republicans have, over the past few
months, consistently acted way out
of the American mainstream on a
variety of issues. Gun control, which
once again became a major point
of political focus, has long been an
issue where the GOP is out of step —
even multiple mass shootings didn’t
change that. Attempts to include
universal background checks, ban
military-style assault weapons and
raise the purchasing age to 21 all fell
out or were never even considered
for the recently passed gun control
bill, due to Republican opposition.
Read more at michigandaily.com
Read more at michigandaily.com
Read more at michigandaily.com
LINDSEY SPENCER
Opinion Columnist