Ever have one of those "AHA!" moments? Well, here's my most recent...
I'm sitting here, having just finished watching 70% of the first season of The Newsroom (the 7 last episodes of the 10 episode season). Let me preface this by saying I am a big fan of watching Fox News. I am a Republican, but with some Libertarian beliefs scattered throughout (such as minimal spending, decentralized government, etc). I have spent hours watching Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity, and Glenn Beck. I like watching grassroots movements, such as the Tea Party spring out of the ground and earn national recognition to the extent of unseating incumbent Representatives and Senators. Unlike many other 24 year olds, I enjoy watching cable news- I enjoy the debates, I enjoy listening to the opinions of those who are credible enough to work for cable news stations. I was a supporter of George W. Bush and felt like no other man could handle the 9/11 attacks the way he did. I feel that while his presidency wasn't the best, it certainly wasn't the worst. If you have gotten this far expecting me to write about how Obama is a Socialist, someone who wants to increase entitlements and make people dependent on the government, you might be surprised to know that this isn't the theme of this piece. I won't dismiss the facts because, as they say, "the numbers don't lie". In fact, I know them like the back of my hand: $16 trillion in debt, budgets that run $1 trillion in the red, unemployment that hasn't been below 8% since February 2009, 15 million more on food stamps. These facts are shoved down our throats every day by those who are responsible for reporting them, whether that be the White House, the Congressional Budget Office or Newscorp.
My point of this is to explain how important it is to be educated before you vote. As a 24 year old recent college graduate, I experienced many things about the 2008 election first hand. I saw those who were duped into voting for candidates because of peer pressure on both sides. I saw college students who were involved with local campaigns trying to broadcast their candidate's message. I saw the "Obama/Biden" stickers, t-shirts, shoes, and heard songs based on the election. What I failed to see was the majority of students who actually knew why they were voting for a specific candidate, and not because their parents held the same beliefs. This questions one of the biggest reasons teenagers enroll in universities. What ever happened to going away to college to learn how to become a responsible individual? What happened to forming opinions on your own, instead of downloading the same message your parents shared? What happened to forming decisions based on moral aptitude rather than being "red" or "blue"?
As I mentioned earlier, I watched about 7 hours of a show called The Newsroom, written by Aaron Sorkin. This show challenged me as an individual because, as I stated above, agree with Republican policies and have supported the Tea Party movement since its inception. While the lead character is a registered Republican, many of the episodes have minor topics depicting the Tea Party as the American Taliban, a group that is taking the United States hostage. Normally, any kind of thought like this would make me cringe, and even though it doesn't have me furious I still don't agree with it. However, this show has taught me two very important lessons with politics. First, is has shown me that in order to fully understand a politician, you must push the limits with them. Remember, these politicians are paid through U.S. tax dollars and elected by the people of the United States. This country was founded on less government control, to the point that the general population would not have to worry about a controlling federal government. Second, it has shown me that individualism and politics is something that is often underestimated in today's society. We are too quick to support a candidate without doing proper research. No one will ever truly like a candidate 100%- they may completely back them, but it is very hard to support a candidate on 100% of their issues. What we can do is make sure we are educated before we go to polls, regardless if you will be voting Democrat or Republican. There is nothing worse than someone voting based on peer pressure or hearsay.
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