When I was in college I was a pretty decent and dedicated student. I partied some, sure; but mostly since I was paying for the education myself I stayed relatively dedicated to my education and wanted to succeed. That's all fine and dandy but can you imagine doing all the rigors of being in college and also running for a elected government position? Now imagine that your opponent is someone who has been there for ages and likely has the help of political power-people on his side.
Well that is exactly what Wyatt Gable, who is only 21, managed to accomplish on "super Tuesday" and it is making national headlines. The fact that I attended the same university that Wyatt is currently a student at makes this story even more exciting to me.
I wonder how seriously Wyatt is going to be taken in the House of Representatives because he looks like a child. By many people's metrics he is a child. That doesn't change the fact that he ousted a guy that had probably grown so accustomed to having his job that he might not have taken Gable seriously as opposition. Incumbent George Cleveland has held this position since Wyatt himself was only 1 year old and I think that this defeat says a lot about the way that people are getting tired of the establishment politicians. Well, I certainly hope they are.
The fun thing about this story is that it was actually the inactivity of George Cleveland when Wyatt was a freshman in college that prompted him to run against him. It goes back to Covid times where Wyatt was getting tired of the fact that he had to be tested weekly for the virus or else risk his student ID being digitally revoked which meant he would no longer have access to his dorm, his classes, or even the dining halls. Wyatt described this situation as the system having "total control" over the population and he, like me, didn't like that very much. When he reached out to Cleveland's office for help, his office didn't even have the courtesy of answering him at all.
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hey hey hey, good - bye!
Something else that may have contributed to Cleveland's defeat is the fact that he is 84 years old. This has been a hot topic on the minds of many Americans lately who view both Biden and Trump as being too old to function properly with their brains and what not. While Wyatt didn't say that this was a focus of his campaign, I am sure that it was at least part of it. Should 84 year old people be in charge of running the government? That's a matter of debate but I'll say this: I haven't met very many people in their mid 80's that were "all there."
Now the game isn't finished because Wyatt still has to win the general election in November before he can take office. This almost seems a sure thing though because the area that he seeks to gain an office in is overwhelmingly conservative and the hatred between conservatives and liberals is very much alive and well in North Carolina as well. Without even knowing anything about Wyatt, conservatives will vote for him rather than allow a Democrat to take the office.
While I think that 21 is a bit too young I support the movement to remove the "old guard" from public office. This isn't to say that we should base all of our voting decisions on someone's age entirely, but I recall a commercial from a long time ago for the Libertarian party that was poorly produced that went on in the middle of the night on television. It said "they say if it isn't broken don't fix it.... well, it's broken."
That's the way that I feel about politics in general in the United States and I wouldn't mind seeing EVERYONE who currently holds office being voted out and starting fresh. Well done Wyatt!