In November, millions of people are going to flood their local Polling Place. We are in the middle of Presidential Campaigns. But how do we make the right choice?

 Mrs. Lemmon was never interested in politics growing up, but she doesn’t want you to follow in her footsteps. 

“I’ve been teaching since 2012. I didn’t realize how much women had to go through to be able to vote. Hunger strikes? No one is doing that unless they are extremely passionate. That and teaching gave me a new appreciation for my voting rights.”

A lot of people can relate to this, just not really caring about their vote. I mean, if you don’t really like politics then it doesn’t matter, right?

Wrong! Voting is an amazing right that we have; we should be proud to cast our vote every election we can. Look at how much work we had to do to get here.

Not everyone waited to vote though, Two of our great teachers from the History Department were anxious to get out there and hit the polls. 

Mr. Goldinger being one of them, happened to have an unfortunate birthday.

“I voted in a local election in 1990.  But the first Presidential election I ever voted in was in 1992 (George H.W. Bush v. Bill Clinton).  I missed the cut off to be able to vote in the 1988 election by a month.  I turned 18 shortly after it was held.”

Mr. Zebrine was also driven to the polls as soon as possible. He first voted in 1996. “William Clinton vs. Robert Dole.” 

Mr. Clinton went on to win re-election for the presidency, and as we know caught an Impeachment halfway through his term. I can imagine it may have been hard to vote in 2000 after the previous election.

“We are as divided as ever,” Said Mr. Goldinger.

He is correct; we are in unprecedented times. Even just looking at the candidates, for the first time ever you have a woman of color as the democratic nominee, and across the aisle the Republican Party has selected a convicted felon as their nominee, also a first. There’s a lot of new things happening at once. 

“The political environment has become much more polarized and intolerant of opposing views, both between the parties and within the parties.”

There is a fantastic book that explains exactly what Mr. Zebrine is referring to here.

It’s titled Why We’re Polarized by Ezra Klein. It lays out exactly what’s going on in our current political climate. If you are interested in politics, I would give it a read. 

“It was more than disturbing” said Mr. Zebrine.

There is no room for violence and hate in politics, and it’s unfortunate this needs to be said. 

Mrs. Lemmon owns a restaurant in the area, and was flooded with people that had attended Donald Trump’s rally in Butler. This is only one example of how this rally affected everyone in our area. 

Local regulars poured into the Field House and informing others, shocking Mrs. Lemmon. “My immediate thought was ‘I can’t believe this.’ life is so precious and never guaranteed.”

This was a shared thought amongst most Americans. How, and why did this happen? 

Conspiracies started running wild, tensions were high. It was a tough time for our country.

Being a new voter can be scary, but there’s some things you can do to try and prepare yourself to the best you can.

“This is a major problem. People need to do research.” 

With Mrs. Lemmon never really caring about politics, she is passionate about teaching the youth and making sure they are doing their research fairly.

Mr. Goldinger is definitely doing his part.

“I’ll take some time to discuss major issues and where each candidate stands on those issues.  Everything will culminate with a mock election in my American Government/History 11 classes on November 5.”

Sounds like he is making great strides in educating his students, and getting them prepared for the election in the best way possible. 

Are you worried about impartial news? It can be hard to find reliable, unbiased news. Have you ever wondered what your teachers follow, and how reliable they are? Well, you’re about to find out.

Mr. Zebrine has three reliable sources where he gets his news.

“ I usually use Associated Press News, or CBS or NBC News.”

According to All Sides, these are all very reliable sources, with a center/left leaning rating (All sides is a website that provides a reliability and bias rating for all mainstream news).

Mrs. Lemmon takes a different approach to her news, though.

“I read everything. You can’t tune into only what you want to hear.”

I really like this! It’s really important to get opinions from every side just so you can remain imparcial. If this is too much for you though, a center rated news source can also give the same effect. 

Mrs. Lemmon has been a key player at Knoch when it comes to politics. With her great responses and her being the advisor for the Youth and Government, who else but her to leave you with a short message?

“Change doesn’t come from comfort.”