This year’s Time’s Person of the Year is not a single person, but a group of people who have spoken up about their sexual assaults. There are many names we recognize- Terry Crews, Taylor Swift- and some we don’t- Juana Melara, Adama Iwu. They are the silence breakers, and started a worldwide movement, garnering hashtags like #MeToo in America, #BalanceTonPorc in France, and #YoTambien in Spanish speaking countries.

     Many of these people who have been accused are celebrities, and we’ve seen the consequences. Harvey Weinstein, Kevin Spacey, Matt Lauer. All of them have gotten the consequences they deserved, like being fired and ostracized. This is great. Of course these horrible people shouldn’t be able to work there anymore. However, it just highlights another glaring problem in our society.

    The people with real power, power to make laws and decisions for us, oddly never seem to get the harsh punishments and condemnations that the movie stars get, even for much worse crimes. They’re allowed to stay in their positions, given the choice as to whether they want to leave or not.

     For example, Alabama Republican nominee for the Senate, Roy Moore. Nine women in total have accused Moore of sexually assaulting them, with several being under the age of consent. Even independent witnesses agreed he had a history of coming on to underage girls, and he offered very contradictory responses to the accusations.

    Even with the relatively slim chance that all of these people are lying through their teeth, he is still receiving much fewer repercussions than those in the entertainment industry did for similar accusations.

    We also need to appreciate the magnitude of the allegations against Donald Trump. Nineteen women. Nineteen women accused him of varied sexual offenses, such as purposely walking in on underage girls changing, kissing women who didn’t want to be kissed, and touching them under their clothes, not to mention the infamous Access Hollywood tape. Many of these accounts were supported by witnesses to the incidents.

    There are countless other powerful men who have committed disgusting acts, such as Al Franken, but the President wields far more authority and is the face of America, who all other countries judge us by. We are not showing our best face. It is, frankly, appalling that in this day and age, we can have a man who bragged about assaulting women and have evidence to prove it, and remain President. Let’s hold him and other men in politics to the same standards to which we hold celebrities.