It’s so easy a caveman can do it. Honestly, it is. The process is quick and painless. However thousands of Americans take this human right for granted. More than half of United States citizens fail to make it to the polls and perform democracy’s simplest task: voting.
What does it take for the people of this country to vote? YouTube debates? Check. Celebrities threatening us to “Vote or Die?” Check. A satirist who makes light of political issues on nightly television? Double check. Media and entertainment have taken politics to its lowest level for all Americans to comprehend. No longer must Americans gather around their single television set, or family radio. Gone are the days of Whistle Stop campaigns and parades. Campaigns have turned to technology in hopes of conjuring up votes. With news and information about the candidates so easy to obtain, will voter turnout improve in 2008?
YouTube has developed a voter education initiative in YouTube You Choose ‘08. The initiative is designed to allow political candidates to communicate to the masses about their campaigns. YouTube co-Founder and CEO Chad Hurley says, “At its core, YouTube is about democracy and self-expression…”
Amy Kell a young Democrat at Miami University thinks the initiative is, “absolutely a great way to get kids informed…the information is easily accessible.” However, she predicts the efforts of candidates and their campaign staff will be stifled come election day 2008. “Our country is lazy, it’s absolutely ridiculous,” Kell expressed.
Candidates have moved beyond television to make their way into American homes. But will those sitting on their computer chairs for hours on end actually get up and punch a hole in the ballot? Campaigns have reached every inch of American media: newspapers, television, radio, magazines, and now the Internet, yet Americans still doubt their fellow citizens’ political participation.
Young Republican Lauren Dickerson of Middletown, Ohio doesn’t think the 2008 election turnout will look any different from previous presidential elections. “I think people have their own trend, if they voted before they will vote again, but if they haven’t previously I don’t think that will change,” explained Dickerson, a junior at Miami University. Although a women and an African American are in the running, Dickerson doesn’t see that factor rallying more political participation from the American people.
Enough is enough America. It wasn’t for nothing that our predecessors fought for years to win the right to vote. We live in a democracy which allows all citizens the privilege to vote for elected officials, yet Americans fail time and time again to honor this simple human right.
The 2008 election is one for the record books. A woman or African American holding the highest office in the land is a definite possibility. Politics has come to our level, that of the common people. Candidates have snuck into our lives in ways that weren’t imaginable in years previous when voter turnout was high. It’s our chance to redeem ourselves and respect the rights our Founding Fathers laid out for us. Its your right, your choice, your vote that will matter in 2008.