Editor’s note: All opinions expressed in this article belong to their respective author(s). Check our section “Voices” dedicated to opinion pieces on AUI Chronicle. This piece has been co-authored with Karim Bahoum.
Late last month, I read a piece in the AUI Chronicle by Sahar Khamoosh that aptly captured one of the pillars of any democracy. The article was titled, “Complaining, our favorite hobby?” and it got me thinking about the practical application of criticism, free speech, and political participation at AUI and in my home country.
United States Political Climate
My name is Nathan Lincoln. I have the pleasure of working as a presidential intern in the Office of Institutional Research and Effectiveness. I was raised in the northeast of the United States by democrat parents. My first proper exposure to politics was being brought along to a campaign rally for Hillary Clinton when I was 11 years old.
In my time before traveling to Morocco, I was paying close attention to the 2020 presidential election. This time around, I was supporting Bernie Sanders to be our Democratic candidate. There is a large demographic of people in my country who choose not to vote because they feel that the government doesn’t care and has nothing to offer to them. Bernie had the unique quality of reaching out to these people and getting them involved with politics. He achieved this with progressive policies and his inspiring rhetoric. I was very profoundly disappointed when he didn’t become the democratic candidate.
This is one of the reasons I chose to travel over 6,000 km to Morocco. I wanted to get away, albeit temporarily, from a frequently frustrating and increasingly hostile political scene. Of course, I didn’t really consider what a different political system Morocco has. For Americans, a monarchy is, figuratively and literally, a foreign concept. Historically, America was born out of rebelling against the English monarchy. In America, your individual voice is small, but you usually have the assurance that you can use your voice to say whatever you want. It also, occasionally, results in the rise of a reality-tv star to the country’s highest office.
AUI Political Climate
Given that AUI is an American-style, liberal arts school, I shouldn’t have been surprised to learn about high levels of interest in the recent US election at the university. Even more, much of my personal interaction with AUI community members has been limited by our institution’s very necessary social distancing rules for campus health safety. The kind of political discussions and debates I prefer to have over face-to-face meals and coffee have been regulated to the commute to work or over internet forums. I really was expecting to not hear much about US politics.
However, every time I did get to meet with a student, faculty, or administrator, I was always asked for any updates about the election, like I held some insider information because of my nationality. Ironically, these conversations usually ended up being more informative for me than the asker. I hate to say it, but many Americans (myself included) are woefully under-educated on the separate departments of government, those departments’ functions, the electoral college, and especially foreign affairs. I was glad to learn that there is a foundational course about American Political Systems. This type of civic education is very necessary for a functioning democracy and I hope to someday see it replicated in American public schools.
I was also surprised to see there is active engagement with the Student Government Association, AUI’s own slice of democratic practice. A line that tickled me from the Khamoosh article is where they write, “The Student Government Association is one of the most well-known institutions that basically carry out complaints as part of its duties.” Is this not, albeit in broadly simplified terms, exactly the goal of any government, as much the SGA senate as US senate? Sort through and address the grievances of its people. Even more encouraging is the impression I‘ve gotten from the students and SGA senators I’ve had the chance to speak to, is that voter turnout for these school elections is fairly high. So many of my once active peers in America are simply exhausted and faithless in their governmental institutions, yet the engagement in both local and international politics at AUI was rejuvenating.
Election Night
Finally, a word on the conclusion of this strange election. From Morocco, I watched the election news from a safe distance. Despite personally being underwhelmed by the man, I was under the assumption that Joe Biden would easily win the election. After all, President Trump’s disastrous management of the Coronavirus pandemic was enough to cause schisms in even his most solid voter base. This year, I would be casting my ballot from abroad, one of the millions of mail-in ballots.
We are nearly two weeks past election night, and I still don’t know if my vote was ever received. We are nearly two weeks past, and there is still lingering uncertainty as to who is going to be the next president of the United States. This is due to some blatant fear-mongering on part of the current administration, but the tally of electoral votes was shockingly close regardless. And of course, while Joe Biden is very likely going to become my next president, he will be facing a Republican senate, likely to stall legislation that could actually help people.
For once, I think I felt like a foreigner from my country. I probably felt like many AUI students interested in American politics. We are watching this great, global entity decide its future, a decision that will impact so much of the world, and there is so little we can do to affect it. However, here’s a little advice from former democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders: you should not put all political stake in a federal election. The best way to enact the change you want to see is to start with your local community.
So, how can we improve our AUI community? Maybe you want to get involved with the SGA? I hear they have an election coming up.
