Opinion by College Republicans and College Democrats
One hundred and sixty years ago, the eyes of the nation turned towards Pennsylvania as news poured in of a great battle in the small town of Gettysburg. Our democracy hung in the balance as our countrymen fought for two separate visions of what the future of this continent would look like. Over 50,000 Americans were killed, wounded or declared missing after three days of intense fighting in the blistering heat of July 1863. Yet, despite the carnage and death, democracy and freedom prevailed that day as Union forces defeated the Confederate Army. While the Civil War would rage for another two years, Gettysburg and Pennsylvania would become synonymous with turning the tide of the war and preserving the nation.
Today, the world once again looks to Pennsylvania, including the little town of Gettysburg, as the 2024 election draws near. Pennsylvania may decide the future of the nation, just as it did in July of 1863. We write this today from the halls of Gettysburg College, an institution that bore witness to the immense suffering and death of the battle that raged around it. In its halls were housed countless wounded soldiers of both armies and in the fields of this town were so many from both armies buried.
Despite the challenges that lie before us, even as the most fervent believers fight bitterly, most Americans understand that political violence is not the answer to our predicament. In the spirit of our joint faith in the sanctity of our union and in its people’s will to pursue happiness and not strife, Gettysburg College Democrats and Gettysburg College Republicans categorically condemn political violence. It is as true as ever that the two parties disagree on how our country will brave its problems and let them pass into history as moments of triumph for the nation. Yet that which divides us does not bind us to disunity above all, just as our forefathers overcame disunity and even violence of the highest order in their pursuit of a more perfect union. When we remain committed to future American triumphs, we commit ourselves to peace between neighbors and countrymen, and to making the most of the best parts of our democracy.
For almost 250 years our nation has endured political strife, yet while we have endured, we have not endured lightly. For a time, the country was mostly without political violence. In our new millennium, the trend has reversed once again. Are we to assume that this is simply another period of turbulent history that will pass? In doing so, we would neglect the active role of history’s participants in keeping the country together despite its challenges. Were it not for the restraint of angry American citizens and the will of patriots to transcend our boundaries in favor of what unites us as Americans and as human beings, we would be without peace and without a stable government that has, more than many, withstood the rigors of time.
In the heat of war, Lincoln promised a peace born out of that great struggle: “It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” Now, we call on all Americans to answer Lincoln’s call to dedicate ourselves to the peaceable preservation of this great nation, regardless of party or ideology. We, the College Republicans and College Democrats of Gettysburg College stand shoulder to shoulder to not only condemn political violence no matter where it comes from but pledge to put country over party regardless of the outcome of this election and the future to follow.
