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No reason not to vote

I hate politicians.

I share a distaste with the general public for nearly everyone in the political system. I find most politicians to be two-faced, double-talking, overpaid, power-hungry goons-and those are their good qualities. The American public generally just grumbles along, voting politician after politician into office without believing in their ability to fulfill the responsibilities of the office.

I often find that politicians talk out of both sides of their mouths. When they are with senior citizens, they support social security saying that the younger generation should support older Americans. When politicians talk to younger Americans, they say that it's important to keep money in the hands of young people. It's like a game to them. They want to please all of the people all of the time. But as any mother will tell you, that's impossible.

We had a perfect example of the classic politician in Bloomsburg this past week-Arlen Specter. When a reporter asked him what the best part about his job was, he said that it was coming to college campuses to hear what college students had to say. Right. Arlen Specter is a long-running powerful Senator in the United States Congress and his favorite part about his job is not enacting new legislation or making a difference in the country. Nope-it's coming to colleges to hear what those college kids have to say. It's just this falseness that gives politicians their bad name.

The hatred of politicians often has a negative effect on voter turnout. People figure that it's just a matter of voting in the lesser of two evils, so they just don't vote. In the last presidential election in 1996, there was only a 49 percent voter turnout, according to the New York Times Almanac. Not even a majority of the country voted to elect the most powerful person in the free world.

Through all my hatred of the political system, I will still vote this year. I love voting. It gives me this sense of power, of dignity, knowing that even in some small way I had an effect on the political system. While I realize that my single vote doesn't have a major effect on either campaign, it still doesn't stop me from voting. I guess I see it as my civic duty to participate in elections. Maybe I've watched too many “Rock the Vote” shows on MTV, but that's the way I feel.

In this election year, my one vote may very well matter. The presidential polls have switched sides faster than well, a politician. First George W. Bush has a lead, then Al Gore, and then Bush again. Regardless of what poll you look at, they all have one thing in common-this is going to be an extremely close race. This could be one of those CGA-like elections where a couple votes could make the difference. We probably won't have candidates voting themselves into office like in the CGA, but each vote will have an effect nonetheless.

I bet people thought their vote counted in the 1960 election with Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy. Kennedy won by only 114,673 votes. That's a large number by itself, but think those same 114,000 vote difference was out of over 68 millions votes cast. In that election, each vote did make a difference.

The problem is that the 18 to 25 age-bracket has one of the worst voting records. I'm not sure why exactly that is. It could be that politicians very rarely address issues that affect people our age. It could be that we don't feel like we have a voice in the process. It could just be that we're lazy and don't want to take the 10 minutes to go to the poll to vote. Whatever the reasons are, they aren't justified.

Senior citizens would walk 50 miles in the snow just to vote. They have one of the strongest voter turnouts. Why else would the presidential campaign be focused on Medicare, prescription drugs and social security? The senior citizens carry the most weight because they are the most active voters. It only makes good political sense for politicians to cater to their needs.

Sure, we can complain all day that politicians don't listen to college students. The way to really get their attention is with our votes. If the 18 to 25 age-bracket started to get even half as active as the 65 and old bracket, politicians would take notice. Politicians would start to focus on technology, on tuition reimbursement and other things that are important to college students instead of focusing on seniors' issues. They wouldn't have a choice.

Bloomsburg University students could drastically affect the local elections as well. If the entire campus got together and got behind a candidate for mayor or some other local official, we could drastically sway the election. The campus could have a huge say in who is running this town. But more and more it isn't students who do the electing-it's the senior citizens. Students could have a say in who runs the town, but they squander it away by not voting.

On Election Day, you have a number of choices. You can vote for Al Gore, George W. Bush, Ralph Nader or any one of a number of candidates. Any of those are valid choices. The only invalid choice is not voting at all. This election day, more than any in recent memory, you simply must vote. Because even if you vote for the person that you hate the least, at least you made your voice heard.