The Last Five Weeks

Over break, way too much history happened for my liking. After this article, I plan on taking a step back from national politics to focus more on church issues and politics on campus.

COVID-19 is still a global pandemic and is thriving in certain parts of the world, despite the different government efforts to suppress its spread. The United States still sits comfortably in the lead in virus cases and deaths. On the opposite end of the world, New Zealand was able to come out of lockdown and regain normalcy after their country was declared coronavirus-free, with a grand total of 62 cases currently contained in a country with a population of close to 5 million.

President-elect Joe Biden is due to be sworn in soon, after the official counting of the ballots by Congress. This was interrupted after President Donald Trump incited his following to invade the Capitol, forcing all members of Congress to flee. On the fifth day of 2021, the Capitol was ransacked for the first time since 1812. Instead of the British, a domestic terrorist organization attacked the government–and the FBI refuses to name them as such.

Georgia elected its first black senator, Raphael Warnock, defeating the incumbent Senator Kelly Loeffler by a little less than 40,000 votes. Warnock’s running partner, Jon Ossef, took the second senate seat from incumbent David Perdue by a little over 40,000 votes. This outcome drastically changes the political landscape, as Georgia has been a Republican anchor-hold since 2002. This historic moment is overshadowed by another event that involved the Georgia government.

A suicide bomber in Tennessee destroyed the communications grid connecting Tennessee and 5 other states. The bomb destroyed a block of Nashville and left three people injured. While there is no confirmed motivation yet, it is believed that the bomber acted alone. Repairs are still in progress.

As stated before, history was made over break. As much fun as national politics and the presidential election was, this semester I hope to focus more on state politics and issues that directly involve Union College. If there is anything political on campus, in Lincoln, or in the state that you feel may be a subject of interest, please feel free to contact me and give me a heads up. Welcome back to Union, and may we all have a boring 2021.

Alexander Nesmith is a junior

communication major

from Calhoun, Ga.