Take Advantage of Your Right to Vote

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Author: Elizabeth Cutler (Staff Writer)

The power of citizens to actively participate in their government forms the foundation of democracy. In other words, at the very least, we can vote. So forgive me if I find it sad, irritating and even pathetic to hear my own peers at a politically active and aware college lamenting all of the “buzz” about the election. When I emerge from my bubble of political obsession—er, fascination—I am sometimes shocked to hear the things that my classmates say. They are tired of hearing about Obama and McCain’s policies, no longer amused by Palinisms and could care less about swing states since we don’t even live in one.

I understand that it is relentless and that the media coverage started long before campaigning officially commenced. I also understand that, for many, politics is not as captivating as it is for political nerds like me and may be more annoying at this point than invigorating. But I want to point out that we are downright lucky to have this ability to participate on a fundamental level in the formation of our government. Voting isn’t even completely secure, what with phenomena like vote caging in the crucial swing state of Ohio.

Political participation extends far beyond casting a ballot; on the contrary, it encompasses everything from basic awareness of issues and news to the passionate campaigning to which many Oxy students and graduates have dedicated themselves over the past several months or longer. Not to be that kid who returns from study abroad and somehow works it into every conversation, but I do want to share a little bit of what I learned while completing a research project about university students’ political participation in Chile.

In Chile it is very common for students our age to not vote (registration is for life and requires voting), but still participate in national politics through activities like protests, petitions, and going on strike from their classes to draw national—sometimes international—attention to issues they seek to move forward. I started the project with a very American viewpoint, asking the question: Why would these students choose not to vote? I had yet to learn the true value of political participation other than voting-that it was not extraneous but completely relevant if not crucial to the development and maintenance of democracy.

Since Facebook is obviously the source of all things brilliant, I turn to this little bellwether of political chatter among my peers. For every dozen or so communications of political preferences or opinions via the all-important status updates, I will see a wonderfully hypocritical statement declaring the user’s disdain for all things political. Besides the fact that I love that people think it’s useful to air their lack of an opinion via the same medium that they seem to be criticizing, it concerns me that students can dismiss their peers’ interest in the election so quickly.

Whether you like it or not, everything is political. The speed limit on the road you took to last night’s party was most likely determined by local government, federal law mandates the legality of your consumption of cheap beer, and the ease with which you popped a few Advil the next morning originates with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. So don’t tell me that politics do not affect your life, because your life is anything but apolitical.

I’m not asking you to jump headfirst into final homestretch turn-out-the-vote efforts or any of the number of possible ways to get involved in these final pre-election days. I’m really not even asking you to care. I’m simply asking you to be considerate of the choices made by so many of your Oxy classmates to go beyond the basic act of voting and get involved in this historical election. They are civically engaged and they deserve your respect.

Elizabeth Cutler is a senior Politics major. She can be reached at ecutler@oxy.edu.

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