Hi everyone. I hope everyone is enjoying this cloudy, sleepy day just as much as I am. Talk about wanting to curl up on a couch and watch a movie. Anyways...that is not what I am going to write about. I have been questioning myself on one specific thing to do with the election for quite sometime. It doesn't necessarily have to do with just the 2004 election, but all the elections in the past and future. I'll get right to it.
I think, or have been comtemplating, that the age limit for voting may be too young. Now I know that when you are 18 you are "offically" an adult. What does that exactly mean. We can make decisions on our own without our parents consent, blah, blah, blah. Are 18 year olds eligible to vote. I ask this just because since the election date is coming very soon, and I think of ome of my peers at my high school, I worry if their vote should really count. I am not saying that their opinion doesn't matter but after speaking with a couple of students who have just turned 18, it worries me how honest they will actually be come election day.
I spoke with two classmates that said they were voting for x because x had a nicer car than y. I personally have never seen x or y's automobiles, but does it really make a difference when it coems to who is going to be running our country?
Another example, I was speaking with someone who said they are very sick of the order of presidents and they want to spice it up a little bit. I guess the complain that the order was Bush, Clinton, Bush so now they want a Kerry thrown in there.
I shake my head wondering what percent of the new "adults" that are legally old enough to vote, actually think this way? I know that not everyone 18 plus thinks as low as that, but does the majority or the peple who do outway the majority of the people who don't? I hope I haven't offended anyone, because that is not my intent. Honestly I haven't met one person at the U of M that makes me question their right to vote. It is just previous people I have encountered that make me worry. I guess it doesn't even have to be new - comers to voting. I am sure there are some elgible people who have the same voting strategies that have been able to vote for years.
I'll get going, but if anyone has anything to say to this, please don't hold back.
I think Palm Tree has a really good point here. A lot of young adults, especially those just turning eighteen, don't seem to be serious about voting. Sometimes they vote just to be able to say "I voted", and to feel like mature adults excercising their rights. Obviously it's not only young adults who do that, there are a lot of adults who have been voting for years that act that way also. But since the article was about young adults I thought that Palm Tree brought up a pretty important point.
Posted by: Alia at September 21, 2004 01:12 PMJust to add alittle something, back when Jesse Ventura was elected gov., they say that the percentage of young voters (possible just voting for him because he was a wrestler and not because of his political views) that voted were what really won the election for him. Just to further prove your point that in that case i am sure that alot of the younger voters only choose him because of his wrestling background and not from actual agreement with his politics.
Posted by: Erin at September 21, 2004 06:07 PMi have to say that i believe that 18 year olds should have the right to vote. their decisions may not always be as mature as others and there are some who should never be able to vote. but all in all it is a good experiance for them. it's so hard because we don't really get voter training. we get drivers training but not voters and i think alot of people would benifit from it!! and as far as jesse is concerned. it is true that some people voted for him because he was a wrestler but i don't think that that is what got him elected. people are tired of the same old boring politicians, he represented something new and refreshing.
Posted by: Michelle P at September 22, 2004 08:44 PM