[DEBATE] Presidential Election - 2016 (closing Nov 22)

This is a warning that this thread will close in just over 24 hours (2 weeks since election).

If you have anything left to say (within rules) then please make your comments. Adding to OP.

Being that the election is over, debating over who should win is a moot point.
This thread has served its purpose (in more ways than one), and the creator of it did request that it be closed 48 hours past the election. We extended that to 2 weeks because the discussion was still fresh, but it's becoming stale at 2 weeks. If you enjoyed this thread, we have something coming that you will likely find enjoyable.

I waited until now to weigh in on this thread simply because of the difficulty I generally have in refraining from discussing politics. For those of you who do not already know, I'm currently a graduate student studying public administration/public policy (mostly the latter) and intend to pursue a PhD in public policy. My undergraduate background is in both history and political science. So I tend to live and breathe this stuff. This lends to having relatively strong opinions on a lot of things related to it.

I will refrain from taking a more partisan approach but I do want to make a couple comments relevant to all parties, whether ecstatic or concerned about the results of the election two weeks ago. Before I start, I do want to state publicly that the opinions expressed on this post are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the owner of EMC, its management, or its staff members. In addition, this could get a bit lengthy but I do want to level the playing field a bit.

First of all, no one is immune from being corrupted by power. We have a tendency in modern America to come to the belief that one side can handle the powers of government competently while the other side cannot. This view is baseless as politicians at all levels of government, from both major parties, have been involved in corruption scandals, ethical crises, and a plethora of smaller matters which have caused them to be ousted from power; some against their will.

The system of governance the Constitution designed was to be intentionally inefficient with a wide array of what the academic literature calls "veto points". These are areas where political action deemed to be unsatisfactory can and is able to be stopped. Most of those points rest in the legislature and its pivot is built on political will of the American society. Their sole intention is to maintain office. Therefore, if their constituency does not approve of an action and legislators run against that wish, they're at high risk of losing their seat.

This is built as an accountability measure to keep the government honest with the people. Many of you have (or will) take classes in school which will talk about the British role in the American Revolution. I'll save the details for your classes but the take-home point was this: there were large swaths of government power which left people unable to account for it was a key factor in the rebellion in Lexington and Concord that gave birth to the revolution. As a result, the Constitution was built as a peoples' document - designed for the people to be the final check against government. The nuances of this development can be saved for a later discussion but the key thing to note is this document built on a fear of government rather than an embrace of government. How much power is too much? That's a perceptive question which this avenue (probably EMC in general) isn't the best place to debate upon.

What does this have to do with you? Active participation matters. Alexis de Tocqueville wrote an outstanding critique of the US experiment in the 1800s in which he argued, among many other points, that societal complicity is just as much of a breeding ground for tyranny as unchecked governmental power. That can only be checked by us, the people. We have many tools and weapons available to us to keep the government in check from the power corruption that tempts many a politician. Almost all of which are in active participation.

This takes on many more forms than just voting on election day (an activity I encourage everyone to do if they're able to). Communication with your representatives via phone, email, or in person contact about concerns you have as well as thanking them for actions they've carried out. Coordinating with advocacy groups for particular causes you care about (there's hundreds of them). Volunteering on a campaign when elections roll around. Monitoring activities of the federal and state governments within all branches. Running for office yourself if you are qualified. The list is literally endless and most of these do not require pre-qualifications. If you're unable to vote because you're too young or not a US citizen, you can still volunteer for an advocacy group as well as write to politicians, among other things. You're just as much of a citizen and a voice as I am and you deserve to have it heard as well.

In short, a TL;DR:

1) Don't trust politicians to wield power wisely - none of them ever do.
2) Based on #1: Help keep the government honest as well as help in pushing for causes you believe in. If you need help figuring out how to do this, send me a PM with your areas of interest and I'll see if I can get you pointed in the right direction.

It's already up =)
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