| Why should I vote? |
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| Written by Jes Scheinpflug, Columnist |
| Wednesday, 01 October 2008 18:00 |
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I truly started considering voting when I realized, "Hey this is the first presidential election that I am old enough to participate in." When Bush won his second term, I kept thinking that I wish I could have voted against him just to say that I did all I could do and that I had more of a right to complain that he won again. The only thing I knew at first about this election that made me want to vote was that John McCain is for the war; so consequently I said to myself that I am going to vote for Barack Obama. I don't know of many other issues, but for some reason I am alright with that. Maybe this is my problem, but maybe not. My opinion is more complicated than that. I truly do not believe that my vote counts. Let's face it, look what happened in 2000 with Al Gore. He won the popular vote and lost the electoral vote. This makes me question why we even have the popular vote. I am all for education, asking questions and looking for answers, so I have one question that I will find the answer to this week: Does a 2008 presidential candidate have a stance against the electoral college? If yes, will he even do anything about it? If no, then why even vote? Illinois is a blue state, I feel for sure my vote does not count. I am not completely ignorant. There are many issues that affect me in our country and I have opinions about a lot of them, but I just do not know each candidate's specific stance. I could educate myself on these, but I just took a poll online about the current issues and the results said I coincide 60 percent with Obama. Is that even enough to support him? The saddest part about this for me is that I wish I cared more about voting and I wish I felt like I could make a bigger change. but I just don't. It is also sad that there are so many topics and issues, like the current stock market problem, that affect us so much but are so out of our control. The only thing we can do in those situations is vote for someone who we believe would make the best change and obviously I do not think that my vote has that much pull in the first place. I listened to the first presidential debate on the radio on the way to dinner last week and all I got out of it was that McCain has trouble pronouncing words that he has never said before and that Obama, intentionally or unintentionally, made a pun out of the word Iran when he said "Ironically Iran ." and then paused for a few seconds. I am almost disgusted with myself that this is all I learned from 15 minutes of listening, but nothing else in their speeches caught my attention. As mentioned earlier, maybe my problem is that I am alright with not knowing a lot of the issues the candidates talk about. It's not like I don't care about what is going on in our country, it is quite the opposite. I want to work towards a better place without so much poverty, war, starvation, etc. I'm just content without knowing their personal stances because I do not see the point. No matter what either candidate stands for I will still have my personal opinions. No matter what Obama or McCain stands for, one of them will win (if I vote or not) and one of them will implement their desired policies. I also feel guilty for feeling that voting is pointless because of the fight many women committed to for this. Women of the past fought many struggles and suffered a lot of oppression just so women like me have the rights that I do. Is that reason enough to exercise this right? I have not decided yet either way and hopefully writing this article and your comments on the Daily Vidette Web site or sent through e-mail helps my decision. Of course my final decision will be made the morning of the election. I keep deciding to vote just because I can and it is the first time I am old enough, but what if I have homework, an exam or a paper that I did not finish due that day? At this moment in time, those seem more important than voting when I don't think it even counts. Honestly I do not know if I will vote in November. I am registered and I'm sure I could make the time, but it just does not seem worth it. As much as I wish it were different, at this point in my life it just isn't. |
