One Shot with Aly – Election 2020

This election season was nuts. I think we can all agree on that, but that may be the only thing we all can seem to agree on. I have mentioned in the past that I grew up in a certain religion that didn’t allow a lot of things, and one of those things was involvement in politics. Once I left that, I was very eager to become informed and involved in the next biggest thing after religion, and that’s politics.

I quickly learned that it is definitely as personal a choice as religion and almost equally as dividing, and in the case of the past four years, it may be even more dividing.

I took the photo above because, to me, it was very representative of our politics at the time. The Biden sign is almost hiding behind a bush from this angle and the American flag looms in the distance. There is always one very loud side, and one side that tends to be silent. It was the exact opposite four years ago.

When my fiancé and I put our sign out we did so with trepidation. We didn’t want to anger anyone, but we also wanted to show our pride unafraid. It was interesting that almost immediately after we did so, the neighbors took their Trump flags out and stuck them on their truck. Instead of feeling angry like some might, I smiled because we live in a country where we are free to do so. We can freely show our support for a candidate, and loudly yell our support or our dislike of a candidate without being in danger. That is democracy at work right there.

The many people who founded this country did so on the very basis that we should be able to express ourselves without the fear that someone else’s opinion or beliefs will stop us. Let’s hope we can keep it that way.

Ben Franklin said “…when you assemble a number of men to have the advantage of their joint wisdom, you inevitably assemble with those men, all their prejudices, their passions, their errors of opinion, their local interests, and their selfish views.” When you assemble a group of imperfect people to govern, you will inevitably also get with them their faults. We see that all the time in our politics. The key seems to be informing ourselves as citizens in order to know the difference.

When asked what type of government the delegates had created, Franklin is said to have replied, “A republic, if you can keep it.” A republic is defined as a state in which supreme power is held by the people and their elected representatives, and which has an elected or nominated president rather than a monarch.

Never forget we are a republic. It matters what we want. Your vote does matter, and I think the enormous number of votes we totaled this election has proven that.

I say, let’s keep it.

Until next time, stay motivated and keep shooting.