It has arrived, my final post of the semester. First, I just want to thank anyone and everyone who came up to me in person and told me they enjoyed reading something I wrote. I am truly flattered and humbled for the opportunity to be published in The Towerlight. With that out of the way, let’s get down to business. For my final post I want to talk about the future. This post is directed at Democrats, but I think anyone who is politically inclined will appreciate it.

As a devout Democrat I follow quite a few liberal crazies on Twitter. Trust me, it’s a struggle to read through my twitter feed sometimes; however, as I sift through their rhetoric, I start to wonder about the future of my party. Right now the national conversation is revolving around how the Republican Party can implement reforms to win in the next presidential election. Sure, they are out of touch and have a radical wing, but they have determined that those are problems and are trying to solve them. My question is what is the Democratic Party going to do to earn another victory?

It is time for liberals to move past the Obama campaign rhetoric. Trust me, I was standing with Governor O’Malley cheering “FORWARD, NOT BACK!” in my dorm room as he gave his speech at the Democratic National Convention in September. But it’s May now, and I am struggling to see what President Obama has done other than fall victim to the sequestration. As my fellow liberals on Twitter defend Obama and continue to laugh as the GOP struggles, I am watching Obama’s agenda grow. Before he has even had a chance to check anything off, he has added gun control and returned the closure of Guantanamo Bay prison to his agenda. Idealism won’t win another election.

Can a candidate alone win this next election though? Similar to many of my Democratic friends, I am rooting for Hillary Clinton to run in this upcoming election. She is popular; she has remained involved and continued to accomplish admirable public service. Her loss in 2008 was to someone less experienced and less progressive than her. But, unlike many of my fellow Democratic friends, I will not look past the potential harm to the party that Obama may do before 2016.

By no means do I feel that Obama intends to harm the party purposefully, but at some point he will be forced to do something to establish his presidential legacy further, which could result in negative consequences for the party. If his actions result in the Democratic Party gaining the type of connotation that President George W. Bush attributed to the Republican Party in 2008, even Hillary won’t be enough to retain the White House.

As Democrats, we need to push Obama and his allies in Congress to work harder to strike a deal to end the sequestration, pass an immigration bill, and establish universal background checks for purchasing firearms. If President Obama fails now, Democrats will not have a successful midterm election, they will be frozen completely until 2016, and then they will have to run on Obama’s stagnant second term for the White House.

We must stop idolizing the president and push for progress. If we fail now, the party is in for another four years of shock capitalism, bloated defense spending, and spending cuts that hurt the middle class. Our time to revel in the glow of victory is over, it’s time to act on the mandate handed to Obama, before it truly is too late.

What does it mean to be a United States citizen? Does it mean freedom of speech, freedom of expression, and suffrage? Does it mean what the Declaration of Independence so unapologetically states, “we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal?” Or, does it mean that the government has the responsibility to treat its citizens with the rights they have been guaranteed, regardless of who they are? This is a fundamental question that in the wake of the Boston Marathon bombings we, as a nation, have been debating with rigor. “Innocent until proven guilty” is an idea demanded by Amendments V, VI, and XIV of the US Constitution. The United States judicial system is not perfect, however, I like to think that there are some things everyone can agree on. Such as, everyone being equal, or that you cannot haphazardly be accused of a crime and presumed guilty. These principles must be applied to the Boston Bombing investigation.

This is not to say that I think Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is innocent. But I do believe that as a United States citizen he deserves equal protection under the law. Tsarnaev went through the grueling process of becoming a citizen of this great nation. Even though he was at one point radicalized, he failed to assimilate into our culture, and he went on to commit an unspeakable crime, he still deserves to be read his Miranda rights before questioning. Delays should not be tolerated.

Despite the congressional halls being filled with complaint after complaint that the FBI actually read Tsarnaev his Miranda rights too soon, we cannot allow ourselves as a nation to betray our fundamental values like this. To not read a citizen their rights or to treat them as an “enemy combatant” is truly a slippery slope.

I think that Representative Mike Rogers (R-MI), chairman of the House intelligence committee has said it best thus far, “at some point, the FBI just doesn’t get to investigate Americans or people here who are here legally just because they want to.” I am all for being thorough and having justice for the families of those who have lost loved ones to this horrific event; but there is simply no reason to not have read Tsarnaev his Miranda rights before questioning him.

The United States is a beacon for freedom around the world. If we cannot even treat our own citizens correctly, in accordance with rights guaranteed to them, how are we to be taken seriously when demanding action or international cooperation to help those in need? We must assure that all citizens of this great nation are treated equally and with fairness. This must be done, even if for no other reason than to be sure that when justice is served, it can be done so in a proper and fulfilling manner. We must not yield our rights to fear, or eventually we will have no rights at all.

This Washington Post article contributed to the content of this post.