Travis Vail / Roundup
“Vote or die.” Ever since the 2004 election, this Sean “Puffy” Combs line has been repeated to college students every two years in the hopes that we might become a more viable, or moreover, manageable force on election day.
In order to have an ideal representative government you need every sector of society to express its needs, but what happens when a specific group of eligible voters don’t belong in the polls?
Whether it’s for reasons of happy financial dependence or simply apathy, college students haven’t found a good enough reason to learn the issues of an election, so Nov. 2 is no time to pick up a gambling habit.
With this in mind, there must be a reason that politicians and crazy celebrities try to get us to the polls; look no further than the 2008 general election.
President Barack Obama was locked in a close campaign with John McCain, but he held one advantage over his opponent: If put into words, he could have been considered a “pop culture-rock star-Jesus” at the time.
I apologize to any who finds that last reference offensive, but come on, his face was plastered all over Rastafarian “one love” T-shirts, and somehow that made him synonymous with hope.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, only 48.5 percent of citizens between ages and 18 and 24 voted in 2008, but this represents a 2 percent increase from 2004.
At this point you must be thinking: “What’s so bad about well-educated and government-savvy students giving a candidate the edge in a close election?”
Well, these new voters are admittedly politically unaware.
“I was one of those people who came out and supported Obama, but he hasn’t really gotten anything done,” said Sara Bottomley, a Moorpark College student. “If I could, I would totally take back my vote.”
Now this isn’t even the worst-case scenario, because hypothetically, she might have cast her support for Obama and left the rest of the ballot blank. However, we know it gets worse.
“I was a no on prop 8, and the rest was sort of just ‘eenie-meenie-miney-moe’,” said a Pierce College student who chooses not to be credited for her political activism.
Personally, I’d rather see my peers heading to the polls with Ouija boards than basing their votes on phrases that reflect their naivete.
Prop 8 was a good example of the risks that come from students being single-issue voters.
This time around, countless students have discovered the world of politics from Proposition 19, which seeks to legalize marijuana in California.
I’m not even slightly opposed to that idea, but I know better than pledging my support to a proposition that I don’t completely understand.
People are clamoring to get this bill passed based on a superficial understanding of the proposition, and an even lesser comprehension of federal law.
U.S. Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. was quoted in an Los Angeles Times article saying that the federal Controlled Substances Act will continue to be enforced “vigorously,” even if activities like growing and possessing marijuana are protected by state laws.
Not to rub salt in any wounds here, but even our beloved Obama is opposed to legalizing marijuana.
In this way, college students around the state are trying to get the police off of their backs so they can start worrying about the feds.
Truth be told, I can’t blame anyone for not wanting to read pages of rhetoric on election issues; I just don’t encourage blind ballots. So when Nov. 2 rolls around, spend some quality time with family and friends, maybe even pick up a hobby. Just don’t listen to P. Diddy.