Why should we bother voting in an election where either wedon’t like the candidates or we know that our vote isunlikely to make the slightest difference? Well, everyone says thatwe should vote because we can, in other words, you have theopportunity, so take advantage. But, we all know what happened whenBill Clinton did something “just because he could,” soperhaps we need something a bit more convincing.
At a time when voter apathy is increasing in all age brackets,the number of 18-to 24-year-olds who actually vote has declined to25 percent. So, it appears justifiable to conclude that you are notthe only college age person who feels that voting isn’t worththe effort, and perhaps other students are sharing in your cynicalabstention.
However, our age bracket makes up seven percent of the votingpopulation, and despite the fact that we already established thatyou probably see the glass as half empty, humor us and consider thefact that if most of our peers voted as well, our votes mightactually start to count.
So, since you are probably abstaining from voting because ofyour lackadaisical attitude or because you feel like your vote willnot matter (you’re wrong), clearly you need to eithermomentarily remove yourself from your couch potato existence and dosomething or recognize that if you take advantage of theopportunity to vote our age bracket may be able to reclaim itsvoice.
Furthermore, the best reason to vote, beyond the fact that thepolitical science department, MTV and the editorial board all wantyou to, is that there are issues at stake in this election that youmay feel strongly about regardless of whether you know it or not.So, here are some of the issues for the upcoming election.
Stem Cell Research
Embryonic stem cell research may lead to treatments forParkinson’s disease, Juvenile Diabetes and spinal cordinjuries in the next 10 years if research is pursued. Bush blockedresearch using embryonic stem cell lines obtained after Aug. 2001from receiving any federal funding. Kerry supports governmentfunding of new embryonic stem cell lines.
Gay Marriage
Both candidates oppose gay marriage but support civil unionsthat provide lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual Americancouples with the same rights and benefits given to married couples.However, Bush supports a constitutional amendment defining marriageas heterosexual while Kerry opposes it as unnecessary.
Patriot Act
Bush is currently pushing for Congress to reinstate the PatriotAct. Though Kerry voted for the Patriot Act he now feels thatamendments to the act need to be made.
Late-term Abortions
Bush signed a bill into law making third term abortions illegal.Though Kerry is personally opposed to third term abortions unlessthe woman’s life is in jeopardy, he voted against thebill.
Overseas Abortion Programs
On Bush’s third day in the white house he halted all U.S.funding to international family planning programs that offerabortion counseling, Kerry plans to reinstate funding for theseprograms on his first day in office if he is elected.
Oil Prices
Bush opposes tapping into oil currently headed to the StrategicPetroleum Reserve to drop gas prices because he sees this as aquick fix that jeopardizes our future oil supply. Kerry supportstemporarily diverting oil from the reserve to pull down gasprices.
Your Editorial Board will take up these issues and more over thenext few weeks.