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Only 32.2 percent of college students vote
By Brett Berry
Arizona Daily Wildcat (U. Arizona)
(U-WIRE) TUCSON, Ariz. - It's that time once
again. It's that pesky and obligatory custom that comes every
four years and assures us of the continuing function of the
little experiment we like to call American democracy. Yes, that's
right: It's yet another presidential election year.
Now I know it seems like we just had the last
election. Remember that whole fiasco in Florida with all the
dimpled chads, the recounts and the images of the elderly residents
of Palm Beach County endlessly staring through the lens of a
magnifying class at the countless numbers of butterfly ballots?
Of course, there's been plenty to take our minds off politics
in recent years. We've had wars, terror attacks, recalls, tuition
hikes and reality television to keep us thoroughly occupied
in the time since one of the most heavily contested presidential
elections of all time.
However, the time has come for us to fulfill
our responsibility to inform ourselves of our options and to
follow through by voting. There is no excuse. Each and every
one of us must register to vote, get informed and vote come
November. According to the Center for Information and Research
on Civics and Engagement, in the 2000 election, the young voters
in America (18- to 24-year-olds) were terribly underrepresented.
Only 32.3 percent of our age group voted, as opposed to 54.7
percent of the entire population (which is still much too low).
We as citizens, and especially as students, must take much more
seriously our responsibility to vote if we want a promising
future.
I can already hear many of you trying to come
up with an excuse not to vote. You may think you don't have
time to keep up with all the news and issues, think your vote
really doesn't matter all that much, or think all the candidates
are just a bunch of rich guys bickering like children instead
of representing you. But do not cop out with these lame excuses.
Do not voluntarily surrender the right that helped found our
government -- that men for generations have fought and died
to create and protect.
Do not claim that your ignorance of the political
world is rooted in your lack of free time. That's nonsense.
There are plenty of hours in the day to complete
all your required tasks and duties, as well as read a newspaper
or two, or watch a news program that doesn't focus on celebrity
trials or asinine stories like the annual steeplechase of wiener
dogs in Sheboygan, Wis. It doesn't take that long to get informed.
Watch a real news program or listen to NPR
(but please avoid taking comments from TV personalities like
Bill O'Reilly as fact) to learn the candidates' stances on the
issues facing us. Do not succumb to the media's tendency to
condense entire debates and speeches into four-second sound
bites. Really try to sift through the information to arrive
at what you believe is the truth, and then act on that with
your ballot.
I will grant you that a single vote alone
rarely is significant. However, a single vote combined with
millions of other votes can do amazing things; it can change
the world. Do not complain about the state of the nation or
the world if you are not willing to try to fix the problems.
Our votes can reshape the world. Remember
that old saying, "The world is what we make of it"?
It's true. We can either strive to fix the wrongs in the world,
or we can lie back and allow for greedy politicians to pursue
their own agenda at our expense. Voting is the only strength
the masses have to fight against tyranny and greed. As Ralph
Nader has said, "Turn yourself on to politics, or politics
will turn on you."
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