Rock the vote! Yeah! Or, don't, if you don't want to. Let me point out two things:
1.It is the duty of an American adult to be involved in the political process, yes, but not in the way MTV & Bruce Spreensteen are trying to push on Generation Y. If you don't have a clear preference or if both major candidates go against your core values, you should not vote! Pulling the lever in the booth isn't supposed to be like a slot machine! You don't do it just cuz REM & M0by are pressuring you to vote (cough, for Kerry). "Vote for something" is the Rock the Vote mantra. As in, vote for anything. Don't like the way Bush stammers? Make your voice heard! Vote him out! Against war? Hell yeah! Vote him out! Cuz your vote counts for just as much as those middle-aged squares who vote on issues. Unfortunately.
This is exploitation. The baby-killers want votes, and panderers that they are, they will pander to that largely untapped 20-something vote. We're too ADD to care about grown-up issues, so just make it cool for us. Throw parties with sign-ups for the party-goers to promise not to have sex for a week if they don't vote, and to only have sex with people who have voted for a whole week (I'm not making this up- my imagination, as wild as it is, could never have come up with that). Exploit us in such a way that we walk away feeling powerful. You, the same ones who gave us condoms in school so we don't procreate like rabbits, tell us Vote or Die! (P. Diddy's new T-shirt) Because we're grown-up enough to vote, but too lazy and stupid to do it without our favorite pop stars getting palsy with us.
2. The other thing that gags me is the sly cutesy "We're not endorsing anyone wink wink nudge nudge but you don't really want that war-mogerer for another 4 years. Just vote. For whatever. " WHAT? I want to discourage people from voting if they're going to be voting against my favored candidate! I mean, isn't that the point? To get more votes than the other guy? Isn't that what it means to support one candidate instead of another? My boss, who's college educated, mid-50s, said to me, "I guess I ought to vote this year. I haven't voted in so long. This seems like a big election. " Me, eagerly: "Who are you going to vote for?" Him, half-heartedly: "I don't know. Bush seems like an idiot, but I don't trust Kerry. And he's got a horse face." Me, pleadingly, "Don, don't vote if you're going to vote for Kerry, ok? Can you promise me that? For your best employee, can you do this favor? Huh?" The Vote For Whatever people don't have the guts to say, Vote for Kerry. They pretend like it's all good, but if that's the case, then what is so vital about everyone voting? If you're trying to garner votes for Candidate X, but under the guise of, Vote no matter what, then isn't the jig up? I mean, I know these volunteers don't care whether I, pesonally vote and make myself heard. Their goal isn't to give Mr Jones and Mrs. Smith a soap-box. They want votes for Candidate X. Just say so, you lousy jerks. But why would they? We 20-somethings are only good for our fickleness and ignorance and the votes we cast, and you rotten Hollywood bastards want to curse war on your gilded thrones and boycott the furs you hide in your closets. You want to eat your damn cake and I won't have it.
Let's take a cue from the hippies. They didn't like either candidate so they all registered just so they could write in a damn pig. Oink oink. A real pig. They made their voices heard, but it wasn't for the candidate they were pressured into voting for. Do you waste your vote by not voting? No! If you don't have a reason to vote for candidate X or Y, don't vote. Voting is a privilege. In Rome, it was for citizens, landowners. In America, it used to just be for white men, then just men, finally women too. It's not your right and it's not your placeholder in American society. It's a real pity that bumper stickers and road signs have an effect; that you can actually sway voters just by sensory overload. And it's a pity that this election will hang on the people who don't like the way Bush talks or the fact that Teresa is a train wreck. I hate to agree with the maitre'd of Chez Quis (Ferris Bueller's Day Off), but, "I weep for the future." I still hold out hope, though, that my peers will grow up when they haev to take the helm of this great nation. I think we'll be ok.
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4 comments:
First of all, I hate to break it to you, but you are not a kid anymore. You are a full fledged adult and with that comes responsibility whether you want it or not.
I agree! If someone is trying to get you to register to vote through an anything goes method, but isn't honest enough to tell you who they want you to vote for (which is actually illegal), then don't register, at least not at that place. Go to the courthouse.
But I disagree with part of your comments. As an adult citizen of the USA I registered to vote and I accepted the right and the duty to vote in every election! If I don't like the choices then I have to make a decision to vote for who I think will do the best job. It sometimes comes down to the lessor evil. But I will always vote. I even voted for Pat Paulson once as a write in.
Voting IS a privilege! Have you stopped to think of what America would be like if everyone who didn't agree 100% with either of the candidates decided not to exercise that privilege. I know there has never been a perfect president, because we are all human and make mistakes. But think about other countries!
What if your choices were Hitler, Castro, Sadamm Hussein, Osama Bin Laden?
What if you didn't have a choice or a voice, which as a women in many countries you wouldn't?
Voting is your voice in what goes on in America. You say you hold out hope that your peers will grow up and be able to take the helm, but what if people continue to not vote because they don't like the candidates. WILL THERE BE A HELM LEFT FOR YOUR PEERS TO TAKE OVER?
Will there be an America, Land of the Free and Home of the Brave?
God bless you and your peers and God bless America, Kitty
Fair enough, but what infuraited me was that youth-directed media are trying to pressure us to vote for *any* reason. If it were Hitler running against Stalin, I would abstain from voting or write in a third name. My point was that if your values are not represented in either candidate, don't stand for pop culture telling you to vote anyway. Whether or not someone votes is his own private choice. His reasons for abstaining are not anyone's business and he should not have to be harassed. My PAYSTUB said "Don't forget to vote Nov. 2nd!" My PAYSTUB! How dare my payroll department tell me I should vote without knowing my reasons for how I partake in my country's politics! It's suffocating me! We don't need to be drowning in the voices of strangers chanting "Vote!" I'd rather hear people chanting "Vote for the right guy!" It is better not to vote at all than to vote for someone you don't believe in.
True enough! And granted, people are taking alot of liberties in telling people to vote (like on your paystub)regardless of your political views or if you think there is anyone worth voting for.
But, vote anyway! Vote for someone, someone else whom you do think represents what you stand for; it might be yourself; can you see the news, "Something in My Eye" was elected President today as a write in candidate.
Both parties are counting on young adults "Not Voting" to get their candidate elected. I think you need to at least vote for someone, write in or whomever. That will show everyone that young adults do care and WILL vote and maybe the next election your generation will not be used and abused as it has been during this one, which is what they are doing to you now. Trying to appeal to you through MTV and the actors, musicians, etc.
I want to grow older knowing that your generation will be around and capable of taking care of us old geezers. I know plenty of people your age and as my generation grows older, we are going to need your generation to step up and take charge. If your generation gives up now because there are lousy candidates, where will America be 20 years from now? I want my grandchildren (if I ever have any) to have an America to grow up in. A safe, prolife, free America. Your generation will be the ones to make that happen. Don't give up hope just yet, stay with us. I was your age in the 70's, a very rough time, but I've stuck thru the bad years and now hold out hope that America will continue to be a place where I want to live.
God bless you and thank you for caring enough to be thinking about this election and knowing that there are some people trying to pull the wool over your eyes. You are an intelligent person and whether you vote or not, and it IS your right, not mine, I pray that there are enough people like you in our world to keep America alive. God Bless, Kitty :)
There is alot to be said, both good and bad, about chosing the lesser of two evils. People making their decisions in this manner is indeed a sad thing, but at least in this scenario there is still someone who is *prefered*. When everyone who doesnt want to chose between the lesser of two evils doesn't vote, the not-prefered man wins. Sucky. But we all know how this works.
The thing that bothers me the most about randomly encouraging people to vote is that most people who arent interested enough to vote on their own volition usually aren't involved enough in what's going on to make an informed decission. We should be informing people to educate themselves and vote. Not simply 'vote'. And deffinetly not these adds on tv that just say, 'go vote. for anything. it doesnt matter. just vote.' That actually encourages people not to educate themselves before stepping into a booth.
So why dont they [the people running these ads] care? Because it is the media and hollywood stars who are pushing these 'whatever just vote messages'. Liberals. And what do they know to be true? That people who do not vote are [taken as a whole] less educated then those who do. They are also young. And what do the uneducated and the young have in common? They are predominantly liberal-minded. Educate them? "Hell no. They are already gonna vote for our guy. Lets just get them in a damn booth..."
Isn't it really pathetic for them to know that getting all of the uneducated people to vote with out even telling who to vote for will sway the election in favor of your candidate??? That alone would make me think twice about my party selection...
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