Weekly Writers Round-Up: Reflections on the Election

Each week, we’ll be featuring opinion pieces from the alumni and current participants of AFF’s Writing Fellows Program. A few highlights from the past week are below. Do you dream of having bylines like these? Learn more about how the Writing Fellows Program can help boost your writing career!

There’s no need to freak out, no matter who wins by Jason Russell (Fall 2014) in the Washington Examiner
It’s in the nature of most politicians and their campaigns to spread dystopian fears about what might happen if their opponent wins. Joe Biden wrote that “Trump represents an existential threat to the future of our country.” President Trump said, “No one will be safe in Biden’s America.” This is nothing new: In 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson’s “Daisy” ad implied Sen. Barry Goldwater would cause a nuclear holocaust if elected president.

But no matter who wins the race for the White House, there’s no need to panic — it probably won’t change your daily life all that much…

If the Government Can’t Manage Elections, It Sure Shouldn’t Manage Health Care by Christina Herrin (Summer 2019) in Townhall
If government can’t accomplish the task of properly counting ballots in a timely manner, it is not capable of managing our health care system.

It has been more than 48 hours since the polls closed. Yet we are still unclear who won the presidential election, and several other races. If this year has taught us anything, it is that government inefficiency has been exposed, which is inspiring demand for more freedom and less government…

America has become a shining light for drug policy reform by Daniel Pryor (Fall 2016) in CapX
In the midst of an election characterised by uncertainty and long delays, supporters of drug policy reform can take solace in the results of several ballot measures. With a potential Biden victory promising cannabis decriminalisation on a federal level, this could prove crucial in sparking similar efforts in the UK.

Four states—Arizona, Montana, New Jersey and South Dakota—approved measures to legalise recreational cannabis while voters in Mississippi came out in support of a robust medical cannabis framework. Psychedelics will now be decriminalised in the nation’s capital, Washington DC, while Oregon has become the first U.S. state to decriminalise possession of all drugs and legalise psilocybin (psychedelic) therapy. All but one of these ballot measures (South Dakota) were won by more than 10 percentage points…