By Victoria Comella
After years of struggle and persistence it wasn’t until 1920, a mere 84 years ago, that one vote changed the outcome of the women’s suffrage movement in the United States. This one vote allowed for the narrow passage of the 19th Amendment giving women across the country a chance to have a voice under the government in which they were living.
It was only 32 years ago in 1972 the age bracket of 18 to 20-year-olds were given the right to vote, allowing the youth of the nation to be heard. Yet now, post election, with the numbers in and the ballots counted, I can’t help but ask the question: What have we been doing?
As the youth of America today it seems as though, on a large scale, we have lost the propensity to care. The 2004 election, perhaps the most pivotal election of my lifetime, rendered only 17 percent of the vote from 18 to 29-year-olds. With pundits planning for a large voter turnout among young people they were sadly disappointed to see all the posters, mailings, television and print campaign ads willing the youth to vote, failed.
Without the constant nagging of people on MTV telling us to vote or die, would the numbers have been drastically less than they already are?
Yet the real question isn’t whether or not P. Diddy’s message reached the young voters of America, but rather if they even cared about the issues to begin with. For how can anyone expect young voters to turn out when it seems as though the majority of America’s young people don’t even care what it is they’re voting for?
With the risk of making a blanket statement, it is apparent there are those who do care. However, democracy lies in a majority and it seems all too clear where the majority of America’s youth stands.
With the passing of yet another election, I can’t help but wonder: When did caring become so taboo? From national to local elections, the youth of America seems to have decided to live their lives free from care, free from the ties of anxiety that come along with investing oneself into something more than just their own lives. During the last four years, I had yet to hear anyone around me speak as adamantly either for or against either presidential candidate as I have in the last few weeks.
I suppose caring only some of the time is better than never at all. But is this an acceptable way to view the world? Isn’t life too short to only care about some things only some of the time? For then how can we reserve the right to be upset with the outcomes of things around us, not only on a political level, but on a personal one as well, if we never seize the opportunity to take a stand?
We have become a society content with sitting back and watching the world spin beside us, and no amount of life-threatening campaign ads can change that.
If we are willing to watch life from our couches, what can we expect for the future? First Amendment rights exist for us all, whether we agree with them or not, and it is in those rights our power is held. If we choose to overlook these rights, the rights which people in the past have fought so hard for us to attain, nothing will ever change.
Unless and until we learn and understand the basic precepts of a democracy and practice them more fully and consistently, we are at risk of losing it.
– Victoria Comella is a senior English major.
