Last week’s issue of The Dickinsonian was controversial to say the least. From the outburst from the racist acts from students at Franklin and Marshall College to the truth of how “safe” the safety shuttles really are, it was a loaded issue. However, the article that shocked me the most was the opinion piece titled “Make Liberals Cry Again.”

For those that don’t know, the article was written from a conservative student’s perspective as to why he will be glad that Democrats will not be winning the next presidential election in 2020, especially to the point where he will “roam the halls and hear liberals cry again.” As someone who personally identifies as a liberal Democrat, the title alone as well as the rest of the column makes me feel scared. Not only was someone attacking the views I held close in an accusatory and questionable manner, but the article clearly expressed that this man [seemingly] enjoys seeing others like me be in emotional distress all because we worry about the fate of our country.

There are a few points that I would like to detest in his argument. First, he mentions how useless the concept of a $15 minimum wage would be because it would not only hurt the economy but also “accelerate the loss of jobs due to technology.” I can see where he comes from with the economy, but the loss of jobs is extremely confusing to me. Yes, we are industrializing to meet with the times, including the use of technology, but this isn’t the year 3000. A majority of stores in the United States do not have artificial intelligence running a large portion of businesses. It will take quite a while for us to reach that point, and as long as we have the technology, we will need people to maintain it, make sure it runs okay, as well as operate it. So this statement is nearly a filler in his argument.

On top of that, the current minimum wage rate throughout a majority of the United States is clearly not sufficient enough. Out of the 300 million citizens of the United States, 11.8% of the population was in poverty in 2018 according to Poverty USA. Personally, I feel that this number is too high. Raising the minimum wage to $15/hour could help people in this poverty range to find a good paying job and potentially not worry about how they will afford rent each month.

Another thing to mention is that the writer of this opinion piece attacked Warren for her proposal for a “$21 trillion socialized health care.” As costly as it may be, it may be worth the investment. According to Kathy Gill from ThoughtCo, 2019 is the first time in a decade that the number of people that do not have access to health insurance has decreased. Those numbers should always be going down, not for the first time in a decade. A number of women are still struggling to afford sanitary products that are unnecessarily expensive, as well as other birth control products. This is even the case for those in poverty. Having a socialized health care could potentially be used to make these products more affordable or even entirely covered.

Finally, this author also degrades candidate Biden, saying that he does “not have the mental clarity or stamina to beat Trump.” Not only does this pose extreme discrimiation, but also it is contradictory of the author’s views. Biden, as of the writing of this piece, is 76 years old. President Trump is younger than Biden at 73 years old. If this individual wants to say this about Biden, shouldn’t that same statement apply to the president as well?