Festivities in Aspen for the Fourth of July were upbeat as families from across the country filled the streets wearing red, white, and blue.
Despite the joyful and energetic atmosphere that filled Aspen’s pedestrian mall on Thursday, locals and visitors, when pressed, felt defeated about the future of American democracy.
Some felt particularly lackluster about a second term for President Biden, including Traci Turner, daughter of Pitkin County Commissioner Patti Clapper, who is a teacher based in Glenwood Springs.
Turner feels disappointed in the two major party candidates for President of the United States.
“I think that there's a lot of stress right now with the presidential election coming up,” Turner said. “I feel like our candidates are jokes, and I feel like a lot of people agree with that.”
She voted for Biden in 2020, but said his age and mental fitness make her feel concerned about his ability to lead.
That was also the case for some visitors, including Karlee Howard, a 19-year-old from Tampa, Florida.
She’s planning to vote for Trump at this point, but said Thursday that she’d be open to a Democratic candidate if Biden stepped down, which more elected officials are starting to call for.
“It's just what it is right now,” Howard said. “Hopefully if they do boot him out and we can get someone that's younger who can get things going, then yeah, I would definitely be interested in that.”
Andre Popov and Nestor Alvarado were in Aspen for the first time on Thursday and celebrated their first Fourth of July.
While Popov can’t vote, he is troubled about the future of American democracy — having lived in Europe and seen other democracies fail.
“Specifically Belarus, Russia, and seeing how democracy declined there, how quickly it did, it is a little scary to see what's going on and the state of the situation that it is here,” Popov said. “Every empire falls. It's not a good track record.”
Alvarado was a little more optimistic, and hopes Americans can heal the divides they’re facing.
“The average American has a lot in common,” Alvarado said. “Forget those differences and work together to make this a better situation.”
As immigrants, they are worried about a future Trump presidency and how he might treat undocumented people in the U.S. if elected.
Despite bleak outlooks on the November election, yesterday’s celebration was filled with camaraderie, laughter, and lots of ice cream to cool down from the afternoon heat.
