by Jack Stroud
(This article was written on Nov. 6.)
Four days after the 2020 Presidential Election votes began to be counted, we still do not know who the next President of the United States will be. Although most indicators point towards Biden winning, the results are still not official. Trump has filed various lawsuits contesting Biden’s lead in some key states, and some of Biden’s margins are so thin that, in some states, a recount will likely be necessary regardless. America needs answers. To bring you sound information on the issues that you deserve to know about, we turned to experts heavily steeped in the world of American politics: two local eighth-graders.
Timmo Heminway and Alijah Manzanares can frequently be found loitering in the Garfield Elementary parking lot, their bicycles close by their side. In the summer, you might see them tearing new tracks around the Evergreen campus. But since school has started back up, they don’t have as much time for that.
On Nov. 6th, distressed and exhausted by the state of our nation, I was walking loop after loop around my block, as I do, scratching my chin, looking for answers. Not far did I have to look before one presented itself to me: A group of five of Olympia’s finest youth, Manzanarez and Heminway amongst them, bikes near their sides, in the throes of a Socratic discussion. Who better than to explicate the state of our nation than the youth who make it? I scrambled back to my residence for a voice recorder and notepad.
Ten minutes later, panting, sweaty, and unprepared, I stumbled back to the Garfield parking lot. The winds of fate were at my back, for the bicycle gang was where I had left them. As I approached, however, I began to second guess. Were these the right people? Would they offer the answers that the educated and discriminating readership of the CPJ deserves? My heart throbbed in my chest. Flashbacks to playground torment. I saw my head caught in bike tire spokes, spinning, clicking, limp. I held my ground. The people need to know, I told myself. I stated my intentions to the group: an interview about the election. They were skeptical. The wheel of an upside-down bicycle spun. I had one more chance. “I’m the guy from Eagan’s, remember me?”**
“Oh yeah!”
“Yeah!”
“What’s up.”
I’d found my in. Knowing them to be bright youth from our previous encounter, I anticipated a provocative discussion. As it turned out though, the three boys with whom I was already acquainted did not feel confident in their political opinions. They said that I should talk with those two–Manzanarez and Heminway.
We got right into the conversation. Manzanarez explained that Biden has just recently taken the lead in two key states: Pennsylvania and Georgia. Georgia is usually red, and Pennsylvania was last election, so this was surprising. Heminway filled in that the reason Biden has taken the lead late in the game is because Democrats were much more likely to vote through mail than Republicans. And the mail in ballots are counted later. “But it’s not over until every vote is counted,” Heminway was sure to say. Manzanarez proposed that Democrats were more likely to vote through mail during the coronavirus pandemic because they generally possess a higher per capita count of neurons than Republicans. I was not able to confirm this in secondary research.
As do many Americans, Manzanarez and Heminway feel frustration with the Electoral College system. “It is completely useless at this point,” Manzanarez said. “It is,” Heminway confirmed. Was it ever useful? I asked. “I actually think it was,” said Manzanarez. “Well yeah because we didn’t have internet back then,” Heminway filled in. Their collective point being that early Americans had fewer means to educate themselves on the candidates for whom they were voting, the Electoral College having been created under the principle that elected officials would make the decision that was best for the people amidst their absence of a means of educating themselves. “But now the system is corrupt,” said Heminway.
As we dug further into the particularities of the Electoral College, a disagreement between the two boys developed. Manzanarez held that California gets 55 electoral votes, Heminway said 51. The situation was fraught. I saw Heminway flash a glance across the parking lot, ready to pedal away. I was worried that I would loose the interview before we even got into the meat of the subject. There was a prolonged pause. I made an appeal: “Well either way it’s still a lot of votes…”
“Yeah.”
“Yeah, I agree.”
I wiped the sweat from my brow and dove back into the discussion. What about all of these lawsuits that Trump has been filing, I asked, do you think he’s got a chance? Both agreed that his chances were slim. “I think everyone is kind of just over him in the judicial system,” said Manzanarez, “They’re kind of like, just get it over with.” And the slow vote counting, what’s with that? When can we expect to officially know who the next president is? “About two days,” said Heminway. “Yeah, I think so,” confirmed Manzanarez. You heard it here first.
While both boys anticipate that Biden will be the winner, they were troubled by a societal tributary of the election: What will become of Trump’s base if Biden wins? “Will they continue supporting Trump and those values? Like would they still have all of the Trump signs and confederate flags and stuff?” Heminway wondered. “When will it just like go away?”
Moreover, what will become of Trump if Biden wins? “Cause once he’s not the president and he goes back to being a civilian he’s just gonna be thrown right back into society with all of his weird anger problems,” said Manzanarez. “He’s just gonna keep tweeting things. And he’ll be a mentor for who to elect next.”
“You know what I bet will happen,” Manzanrez continued, “is like after the fall of Rome, the Pope was still the Pope and the Pope kept trying to make emperors and stuff. I’m wondering if [Trump’s] gonna try to play that role and he’s gonna be like, ‘yeah I’m still a part of the government’ even though he’s not.”
I congratulated myself for choosing these bright young interviewees. “That is a crazy comparison,” I told Manzanarez, “Hopefully you’re wrong.” He chuckled, “Yeah hopefully.”
“But I think we know why people vote for [Trump],” Heminway continued. “It’s because they don’t want an elected person to tell them that their doing it wrong, that they need to fix anything. Like they wanna hear somebody who is like, it’s all fine, you know. Even when it’s not. And Biden is like we need to fix this. People just wanna put it off. They don’t want it hanging over their heads.”
Another excellent point, but I asked Heminway what specifically he meant by it. What issues are we trying to avoid? “COVID and global warming,” he said. I asked if Biden does become president how do they think he’ll handle COVID. “From what I’ve seen from different speeches he’s made,” came Manzanarez, “he always seems pretty cautious. That could always just be a thing in front of the cameras though.” Heminway completed Manzanarez’s thought, “I think anything would be better than right now.”
If Manzanarez and Heminway were old enough to vote, they both said that they would’ve voted for Biden, but also agreed that it would be more of a vote against Trump than for Biden. “Trump is an F president and Biden is a B- president,” said Heminway.
And what about the rest of the world, I asked, how are they looking at us during this election? “I think they’re laughing at us,” said Heminway. “Yeah,” said Manzanarez.
Sensing that the boys had had enough of me, I started to wrap up my questions. Could either of them see themselves in the world of politics when they grew up? “I mean I could. I don’t think so. I don’t know. I don’t think it’d be worth it honestly. I’m just yeah, I’m just kind of scared of politics I don’t think I wanna do that. It’s complicated. It’s so complicated and it’s just like I don’t know seems easier just to not,” is a composite of their responses.
Rather, Manzanarez has plans to start an aerospace company and Heminway can see himself as an astrophysicist. If Manzanarez does start an aerospace company and become very rich, he probably wouldn’t live in Olympia full time. Italy and Greece have always called to him. Heminway likes Olympia, but also noted that Oregon is really nice. Either way, he doesn’t anticipate leaving the PNW for long.
I thanked the boys for their time. They suggested I take care, straddled their bicycles, and rode into the distance. Left stunned in the Garfield parking lot, I realized that that had been, above and beyond, the most meaningful conversation I’d had about the election to date. After a while, I pulled myself together, and started back towards home. My bosom swelled with hope to think that Manzanarez and Heminway could be representative of their generation.
**A few weeks prior I was waiting for my order outside that fine and irreplaceable Olympia institution when three of the boys from the bicycle coterie of Nov. 6th approached to order soft serve cones. We got to talking, chewing the fat, and I was pleased that they were willing to entertain my pandering queries about the life of middle schoolers in Olympia. Before long though, I sensed that something was off. Their tolerance for me was waning. I realized they had mistaken me for an Eagan’s employee! We had a good laugh about it and I advised that they shuffle over to stand in front door so that the actual employees could see them waiting, a pro tip for any on-foot-Eagan’s-orderers.
