Author Archives: Ariana Bignotti

Over the past few weeks, the coronavirus pandemic has been playing a crucial role in our lives as we take on this new “normal.” The majority of the United States is in a stay-at-home order. A stay-at-home order is an order given by the governors of states telling their people that staying at home should be a priority, and if going out is needed (to get groceries or other essential goods) a six-feet distance must be upheld from all other people. Essential businesses, such as banks, grocery stores, pharmacies, and gas stations will be closed. All non-essential businesses will be closed until further notice. In order to combat this virus, some states are enforcing a curfew to limit social interaction. Some of the states, such as Delaware, chose to implement a shelter-in-place order to help limit the spread of COVID-19. The main difference between stay-at-home and shelter-in-place orders is that shelter-in-place orders were typically used for natural disasters and/or chemical incidents.Now, states are finding it useful for COVID-19. Life for everyone seems to have been completely flipped upside. There’s been no more going to school, no more hanging out with friends, no more doing daily life the way we know it. Everyone has spent the majority of the past few weeks in their homes. Or, maybe that’s just what it seems like to those of us who live in a state with strict restrictions put in place because of this deadly virus.

Some states are choosing to not implement any type of statewide order to stop the spread of this virus. Among these states are Arkansas, Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma (except for elders), South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming. Why are the governors choosing not to put restrictions into place?

Source: Times research, local governments and news reports. (https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-stay-at-home-order.html?auth=login-email&login=email)

There has been much talk about why the governors of these states have not ordered restrictions on the daily life of their states. Health experts are warning about the rapid spread of this virus. Citizens from these parts of the country are becoming increasingly worried, pleading with the officials to call an order into place. The statistics from this virus are already alarming. As of April 14 2020, 120,568 lives and counting have been taken from COVID-19. (Elfein) With an extremely high number of deaths and multiple precautions taken from the rest of the country, it may seem confusing why these governors have not yet taken harsher measures to try to stop the spread of COVID-19.

From readings, it seems as if the governors of these states feel as though their citizens can practice reliable social distancing without the need for any special order or restriction. For example, in South Dakota, Governor Kristi Noem states that the citizens of her state should still “practice social distancing, limit group interaction, maintain good hygiene, and self-isolate when [they’re] sick,” (Noem) without putting an official “stay-at-home” or “shelter-in-place” order into place. In recent interviews with governors of these states, they “defended their decision, saying that they had already taken strong steps — closing schools, and shutting down or limiting many aspects of public life, including restaurants, bars, gyms, bowling alleys and movie theaters” (Mervosh and Healy). These people truly believe they are doing the right thing for their states, just like the rest of the states in the country. All of these governors are Republicans that value small government, and do not like the idea of having to create restrictions on the people. These people believe that their citizens have to make the choice themselves to self-quarantine and stay healthy, the state cannot force them. The governors of the states without social distancing orders, are still promoting staying healthy and safe during this struggle. They just do not feel as if it is right to put forced restrictions on their people.

Though these state governors are holding out on putting in place harsher restrictions, they are being extremely pressured by the rest of the nation. According to the New York Times, “The pressure on the holdouts in the Midwest and the South has mounted in recent days as fellow governors, public-health experts and even their own citizens urge them to adopt tougher measures” (Mervosh and Healy). Though a large population of the nation does not agree with how these governors are choosing to go about containing the virus, they continue to stand firm with their opinion.

All we can do right now is see what happens with these particular states and their restrictions. Will more, if not all, of these states succumb to the pressure and put harsher restrictions into place? Will these states have more coronavirus cases/deaths compared to the states that chose to put emphasis on stay-at-home or shelter-in-place orders?

SOURCES:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/04/06/coronavirus-stay-at-home-by-state/

https://doh.sd.gov/news/coronavirus.aspx

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/03/us/coronavirus-states-without-stay-home.html

For my civic issue blog this week, I will be talking about the 2020 presidential election and who is running! The main question I will be trying to tackle in this blog post is Why is this pool of nominees historically high? Though many dropped out of the race, why did we start with so many candidates? My goal of this post is to enlighten you on who is still running in the race for office and what they stand for, along with understanding why so many people decided to participate.

For starters, currently, there are two Republicans running for office (picked by President Trump), alongside five Democrats. Since Mr. Donald Trump is a Republican, it is not uncommon that there are less Republicans running for President than Democrats. The party currently in power does not want to look divided or weak, therefore having significantly less people run for office compared to the party not in power. Though there are only seven people at the moment running for president, there started off with 28 Democrats and four Republicans. This number of Democrats was extremely large, in fact historical.

Let’s talk about who’s still in the race for President and some of the main points they stand for. First up is, current president, Donald Trump. Donald Trump has been serving as our president at the moment since 2016. His main accomplishment since being elected is cutting taxes. He has been focusing heavily on getting rid of policies set in place during the Obama administration. “President Trump would be the oldest president ever if he wins a second term” (Gluek). Next, and the only other person running for the Republican party, is William Weld. Weld is a 74 year old male who “Ran for vice president on the Libertarian Party ticket in 2016” (Burns, Flegenheimer, Lee, Lerer, Martin). Some main points of Weld’s campaign is hoping for a wider range of visas and working permits, keeping abortion legal, and supporting the legalization of marijuanna. According to Business Insider, “the reality is that Weld is probably not going to be the Republican nominee for the presidency in 2020” (Perticone and Zeballos-Roig), mainly because Trump has the advantage of already being in office. 

(William Weld pictured left, Donald Trump pictured right)

Republican Nominees

Moving to the Democratic party nominees, Joseph Biden is up first. Joseph Biden is running against Donald Trump as a Democratic nominee. He has served as vice president to Obama and has run for president twice before. “If Biden were to win this Presidential election, he would be the oldest president in history at his inauguration, at age 78” (Gluek). Main points of Biden’s campaign are increasing existing taxes on upper-income Americans, boosting defense spending, letting states decide on legalization of marijuana, expanding Medicare (not for all, though), and lastly raising the national minimum wage to $15/hour.

Next, running for the Democratic party, is Bernie Sanders. Bernie Sanders came in second place in the 2016 Democratic primary. One main belief of Sanders is that Medicare should be available for everyone and there should be free tuition for all public universities. When coming to age, “Senator Bernie Sanders, one of Mr. Biden’s chief rivals for the Democratic nomination, is about a year older than Mr. Biden” (Gluek).

Bernie Sanders

Next up is Michael Bloomberg, a 78 year-old re-registered Democrat. An important thing to note about Bloomberg is he “re-registered as a Democrat in October 2018, nearly two decades after he left the party to run for mayor as a Republican” (Burns, Flegenheimer, Lee, Lerer, Martin). Some main points of his campaign include (but are not limited to) raising the federal minimum wage to $15/hour, making two years of college free, expanding college debt programs, banning assault weapons, expanding Medicare coverage, and letting states make the decision on the legalization of marijuanna.

In addition to the previous three Democratic nominees named, Tulsi Gabbard is also running. Gabbard is more notoriously known for supporting Sanders in 2016 and for her past in stating “anti-gay statements and her past work for an anti-gay advocacy group”  (Burns, Flegenheimer, Lee, Lerer, Martin). Some notable points of Gabbard’s campaign include raising the federal minimum wage to $15/hour, making college free, expanding debt-fixing programs, banning assault weapons, and having few (if any) limits on abortion. Gabbard also believes in Medicare for all, legalizing marijuanna, getting rid of the national defense budget, and bringing our troops home. Tulsi Gabbard is currently ranked 5/5 in the Democratic race.

Last but not least running for the Democratic party is Elizabeth Warren. Warren has big plans to end lobbying, increase taxes on the wealthy, finding money to direct to opioid and substance use help, and addressing the nation’s housing crisis. 

As previously mentioned, these are only seven out of the original twenty-eight Democratic candidates running. Why did so many people feel the urge to run? This is an extremely difficult question to answer, but according to PolitiFact, “One obvious explanation for the big Democratic field is Trump’s weak approval ratings and the intense opposition Democratic voters express toward him”(Jacobson). Since the majority of the Democratic party is not a fan of Mr. Donald Trump’s work, many feel the need to run against him to try and increase the chances of him not getting reelected. Another possible reason for the large primary field for this upcoming election could be “the declining ability of party elites to shape the race” (Jacobson). According to PolitiFact, candidates are starting to feel as if they do not need much support from party establishment to do well in these types of election, encouraging candidates to jump into this race without a lot of party support. Trump winning office in 2016 places a large role in this idea, which was not very prominent beforehand.

All in all, there are a lot of different characters running in this race. There are a lot of different factors that can go into why more people ran/are running than usual. A question I think about is how will the number of candidates now compare to that of next week, two weeks, and so on? How many more will drop before the process of elimination? I find it extremely interesting that the number of Democratic candidates was historically large. I hope you all enjoyed reading about this topic and I cannot wait to hear your thoughts and opinions!

EDIT: After writing this blog post on Tuesday night, Michael Bloomberg dropped out of the race. Therefore, there are currently only four Democrats running alongside 2 Republicans.

WORKS CITED: 

https://www.politifact.com/article/2019/may/02/big-democratic-primary-field-what-need/

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/us/politics/2020-presidential-candidates.html

https://www.businessinsider.com/who-is-bill-weld-bio-age-family-key-positions-2019-5

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/elections/joe-biden.html

https://www.politico.com/2020-election/candidates-views-on-the-issues/joe-biden/

https://www.politico.com/2020-election/candidates-views-on-the-issues/michael-bloomberg/

https://www.politico.com/2020-election/candidates-views-on-the-issues/tulsi-gabbard/

https://www.warren.senate.gov/about/about-elizabeth

Abortion has recently been a very hot political topic, one that many are following closely. Abortion is defined as “a procedure to end pregnancy” (MedlinePlus). Abortion is extremely controversial as the different political parties have different views and approaches towards the subject. Republicans typically believe that abortion in some, if not most (or even all) cases is wrong and immoral or in other words known as pro-life. Democrats typically believe that abortion in most cases is okay, or also known as pro-choice. Independents for the most part are split in half. Below is a chart on trends of the two major parties’ (and Independents) views on the controversial subject of abortion. The key point to make with this observation is that not all Republicans think abortion should be banned and not all Democrats think abortion should be a right. This observation here might be the start of an even more polarized political system than we have now.

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One main hot topic at this point in time is the suspicion that Democratic party members against abortion are having a tougher and tougher time staying with the party. Why is this you may ask? The short answer would be that they feel unwelcomed. According to The Washington Post it has something to do with the fact that all of the 2020 Presidential Election Democratic candidates are extremely vocal about their interest in keeping abortion accessible with little-no restrictions. For example, “Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) tweeted “Abortion is healthcare” last week as President Trump was speaking to abortion opponents at the March for Life. In December, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said she would wear a Planned Parenthood scarf to her inauguration” (Bailey). These candidates are not holding back when it comes to making their cry for abortions accessible. 

While these vocal candidates are stating their beliefs, they are pushing members of their own party away. These people have a different belief than the majority of their peers, so they find it difficult to interact with them, and clearly the opposing belief does not want to interact as well.  As one antiabortion Democrat states that these vocal Presidential candidates “were trying to make sure people like [him (pro-life)] were not welcome in the party” (Camosy). One may ask, “Why would these candidates try to push away members of their own party? They’re losing votes.” I would look at it in a sense that antiabortion Democrats probably would not have voted for these candidates anyway. 

With this up and coming hot topic of more antiabortion Democrats comes a few questions. Is the rise in pro-life Democrats a major issue for the Democratic Presidential Election candidates? Are these anti-abortion Democrats going to cause a problem for the Democratic party in the 2020 Presidential Election? 

While no one is sure of how much, if any, trouble this “issue” will cause for the Presidential Election candidates, according to The Washington Post, “Those who work and consult in Democratic campaigns say the increasing polarization on the issue means it is more and more difficult for people who oppose abortion rights to feel at home in the Democratic Party” (Bailey). Why would these people stay with a party that they don’t feel as comfortable with? Are they going to vote for a member of their party in this upcoming election? I would believe they are staying with the Democratic party as they don’t have much of a better option in their opinion. They would rather disagree with their party on one issue, than move over to the opposing party and disagree with many more issues. Perhaps, they would move to become an Independent? Will these Democratic candidates address those antiabortion Democrats and try to appeal to them as well? 

All in all, this seems to be a very sticky situation at the moment. While these vocal Presidential Election candidates are freely speaking their mind on having minimal-no restrictions on abortions, they may be losing many supporters along the way. How will the rise in antiabortion Democrats speaking out affect the election in November? 

Thanks for reading and I hope you find this topic on abortion and antiabortion Democrats as intriguing as I do. Until next time!

WORKS CITED:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2020/01/31/why-democrats-who-oppose-abortion-rights-are-finding-it-harder-remain-party/

https://news.gallup.com/poll/246278/abortion-trends-party.aspx

https://medlineplus.gov/abortion.html