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The Dartmouth
June 19, 2025 | Latest Issue
The Dartmouth

Time for a Change

As I have grown older, I have come to the realization that politics in America circles through the same vices year after year in a way that makes NASCAR look novel and exciting. In 1840, the song "Tippecanoe and Tyler too" led uninformed (or worse, undecided) voters into thinking they were voting for a jovial war hero ready to grab government by the collar and drag it to change when, in fact, they were voting for a tired old dolt who would kick the bucket a month into his presidency. Today, we see the same phenomenon in New York and Delaware. Republican voters so ardently crave change in government, they'll take it from two Tea Party lunatics with neither a shred of moral character or intellectual spark.

Last spring I wrote about self-proclaimed gubernatorial Tea Party candidate Carl Paladino ("A Model Candidate," May 5), in a column that focused on his unabashed ego and penchant for sending sexist, racist and pornographic e-mails to coworkers yes, he is that guy. At the end of my column, I largely wrote him off as a candidate because, well, he sent his co-workers footage of bestiality. It seems as though the universe has punished me for my own (continued) hubris, as not only did Paladino win the Republican primary in New York, Satanism-fetishist turned anti-masturbation advocate Christine O'Donnell also won her senatorial primary in Delaware.

How did these two prancing jesters win their respective elections in spite of derision from the Republican establishment in Delaware and New York? I don't think I can fully answer that question, but it is indisputable that the derision actually helped their campaigns. That's nothing new, as evidenced by my earlier chic reference to William Henry Harrison. The individuals now flowering in the face of adversity, though, possess no political experience and otherwise uninspiring resumes. The voters who supported Paladino and O'Donnell are expecting positive change from two trainees who want to change a 200-year, multi-trillion dollar government with little knowledge of its operation.

Their bandwagon is the same as the "change" platform that won Obama's election and the reason why so many Republicans find themselves drawn to Sarah Palin. People have become so disillusioned with government that they think applying a veritable wrecking ball to it would be a change for the better. Suddenly the most conservative voters are overlooking a history of involvement with Satanism and bestiality like it was nothing, when only 10 years ago they were willing to impeach a president for the relatively petty charge of adultery.

But before we place Dartmouth students on a raised pedestal to look down upon the electoral decisions of the uneducated plebeians, let us consider our own actions for a moment. In my three years here, I have seen three campaigns for Student Assembly offices. Candidate after candidate whose names and faces I only vaguely recognized has come and gone promising accountability, engagement and other multisyllabic buzzwords constructed for a college audience. All this amounts to, though, is variations on a theme: "change."

Change is the buzzword for politicians across every aisle in every level and type of government from Senate to student body. After all, why choose something old when you can go with something new? But new does not mean better. It is painfully obvious that the new face Paladino and O'Donnell present is not better for America. Similarly, with the many unfulfilled promises of the Assembly candidates past and promises for change that are increasingly ambitious, our current trends may lead us to choose someone radical and inexperienced to get the job any job done. Let's not pretend that we're voting for good reasons; how many of us can say that we voted for a Student Body President based on a track record of success instead of "I took a class with him/her, and he/she seemed alright?"

To seek change is natural. However, the power of the human mind allows us to discern between positive change (progress) and negative (regress). I hope that, come November, the voters of New York and Delaware are able to look past the populism and make that distinction in their respective candidates. At the same time, though, Dartmouth students must also examine our own culture for these same vices and resist the temptation to pander to change.