Delaware, our government is failing us — but we have the power to change it

Our government is failing us: thousands of Delawareans are out of work and can’t pay their bills, our healthcare system is inadequate, and millions across the country are facing eviction. These issues go beyond just the COVID-19 crisis — our environment is rapidly deteriorating, racial injustice has persisted for centuries, and millions of college students, such as myself, are drowning in student loan debt. These problems were preventable, but our leaders have put the needs of wealthy donors and big corporations ahead of the people they were elected to represent.

Look at the handling of the pandemic: the U.S. response to COVID is an egregious example of governmental inaction leading to widespread hardship. The president’s failure here is clear, immense, and unforgivable, but Congress also bears a good share of responsibility for the economic repercussions of COVID. Despite having the power to ensure a dignified standard of living for every American, the best they could come up with was $1,200 per eligible American and a fund for small businesses that ended up going to billionaires and mega-corporations instead.

So how do we hold our government officials accountable and make sure they’re working in the people’s interests?

We vote.

According to a survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau, just over 60% of eligible citizens voted in the 2016 elections, and in Delaware, only 20% of Democrats turned out for the statewide primary. What has made Americans so disincentivized to vote?

From my conversations with voters as a volunteer for Jessica Scarane’s campaign for

U.S. Senate, I’ve learned that Delawareans are deeply disillusioned with our current elected officials and don’t see their votes as effective tools to fix that. One Sussex voter recently told me how disappointed she is in our nation’s pandemic response and our apparent lack of regard for public safety and well-being of individuals, and how hopeless she felt about our situation changing anytime soon. I’ve heard countless stories of establishment politicians refusing to fight for working people to the point where citizens have entirely given up on politics and voting.

OPINION:  For Delaware, Jess Scarane is the right choice for U.S. senator

LETTERS:  Chris Coons is right for Delaware

This is not the way things should be. We should be able to trust in our politicians to follow through on the promises they make. We should have candidates who are diverse and passionate, instead of people who reinforce the status quo of economic, racial, and gender injustice.

We’ve already seen the positive impact that strong, diverse candidates have on voter turnout. Districts across the country saw record-breaking numbers of voters that contributed to the wins of the progressive grassroots campaigns of Jamaal Bowman, Mondaire Jones, Marie Newman, Paula Jean Swearingen, Donna Imam, and countless others. People-first policies are the model for success we have to follow going forward to rebuild trust in our institutions and electoral process.

OPINION:  COVID-19 highlights the need for technological equity in Delaware

We’re fortunate in Delaware to have a similarly progressive new candidate in Scarane, who is running against Senator Chris Coons in the Sept. 15 Democratic primary. She is championing the policies that the majority of Delawareans are eager to see enacted: universal healthcare, comprehensive criminal justice reform, guaranteed housing, living wages, and a Green New Deal. If young, Black, Brown, Latinx, and LGBTQIA+ people vote in September, we have the ability to take over establishment politics and implement the policies we so desperately need. The fight doesn’t end with voting: we should use the upcoming elections to build organizing power so that we can hold our elected officials accountable and ensure that these people-first policies are actualized.

2020 is a huge election year: we have the power to effect real change, but we can’t do it without high voter participation. We can force Congress to work for us, and voting out the politicians who have refused to do so is a great place to start.

You can register to vote or check your registration status, request an absentee ballot, view upcoming elections, and find your polling place at ivote.de.gov.

Vasu Jayanthi is a Delaware Democrat and sophomore at Brown University.