I can't wait for next year. That will be the first time I vote, and I definitely plan on it.
Last election, my classmates and I watched with fascination and disgust as George Bush won the U.S. Presidency by such a narrow margin it could have been rigged. Hate to say it like this, but:
I Called It.
Not one of my friends had believed Bush would win when everybody hated him. They quoted numbers at me, pointed fingers at me, became passionate, became belligerent. They called me "The Republican," as if it were a disgusting swear. I'm not actually a Republican--I try not to identify with any party, because I think it degrades the system. Being raised in a Christian family, I have some conservative beliefs, but being raised in post-Cold War America, I definitely have some liberal ones. I didn't necessarily want Bush to win, although I must admit I didn't trust Kerry at all. I just could see what would happen. The media kept saying that the 18-25 age group would carry the election, because they were making such a fuss with demonstrations and such. When they didn't, the media said they just didn't care enough to get out of bed.
I don't think that's true. I think they cared too much. I think they were suddenly hit with the enormity of what they were being told to do, just as--perhaps--their elders were. People talked about going into that booth convinced they were going to vote for Kerry, but coming out of it having voted for Bush. Why? Why??
In retrospect, it's easy enough to figure out. The American voters followed a very predictable pattern: in wartime, we tend to stick with the president that got us into it. We think, he had a plan. We're not sure what that plan is, we're not sure if it is a good one, but a new guy isn't going to know what he's doing.
By voting, we determine the course of history, how the next four years will play out. That is something older voters have had a chance to realize, something they've pondered, something they've come to grips with. New voters are taken completely by surprise. We the people of the United States of America are responsible if we pick a bad president. It's us. I think that's why so few people voted, across the board. It wasn't just teens and twenties, though that was what showed the most. We had something like a 60% voter turnout. That's terrible, but it is justifiable. 40% of Americans couldn't have lived with themselves if they'd made the wrong choice, so they just didn't vote. They were afraid. Whether they realize it or not, they were afraid. And I completely understand, given that it was difficult to see which candidate was the lesser of two evils. Looking back over the past years, I can't decide what I'd do. Maybe I'd do the same as those who were afraid. Maybe I'd vote, but choose wrongly. Would it be my fault if my vote brought the country to ruin?
Maybe yes, maybe no. But next election, I'll still vote. I don't know who I'll vote for, because I don't like any of the candidates currently available. But I will vote. I promise. Paradoxically, to vote is both my right and my duty. I was born in America; I have the right to vote or not to. I was born in America; I feel have the responsibility to vote. And if I make the wrong choice, I'll learn from it and move on. There's nothing else we Americans can do. if we can't deal with democracy, we don't deserve it.
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i agree with you when you say you dont have a specific party and i also grew up in a christian home. I, however, thin Bush is doing as good a job as anyone would do in this situation. we were attacked and it is kinda insane to let that happen in the future. We need to prevent it from happening to others too by stopping it at the source. This is why we went over and if we pull out now, we will waste all that time and money and troops, and things will go back to the way they were, which was pretty bad.
I do agree that it was the right thing to do to go into Iraq, although not being God I can't see into Bush's head and judge his reasons. I also agree that to pull out now would devalue everything we've done so far. My criticism is of how the war has been run, not necessarily by the White House (Bush, as President, does not actually have all the power), but by the government and the people together. Americans complain about their government all the time, but either through laziness or ignorance do nothing to change it. If we, as citizens, were to come up with a convincing plan for what we, not the government, can do to help Iraq, I think that would be better than sitting on our bums and whining. Too many people see doing anything in Iraq, even relief work, as supporting the war, therefore they have an excuse (a poor one) for doing nothing.
CEM