martes, julio 27
I think this is a turning point.
Wasn't there a television news magazine called Turning Point? I try really hard to keep track of all the news magazines. I mentioned my distaste of these types of shows in an earlier entry, but I can't stress how important it is for each of us to receive our news in the most topical and opiniated matter.
Speaking of opinions there is no other time that during the election year that everyone has an opinion. Since the beginning of the year people have been biting all of their good friend's heads off in order to convince them their side is right. I, thankfully, am in the most ironic of all these types of situation being a college student and all. I really like seeing how every student knows who will be best to run the country yet statistics show around a quarter of them will vote. Is some socialist organization throwing all night parties on campuses all over America. Are students just unable to get up the next day to vote. I think everyone understand a good bender will last well past 6 in the evening the next day.
I'm not a complete idiot so I wasn't in college last time we had an election. Now that I am its not the actual voting process and being able to participate in the democratic ideals that has me excited. Its the prospect of this magical night known as Election Eve when nearly 2/3 of Americans are convinced every thing they were frustrated with in politics doesn't matter the next morning.
There has to be some sort of 'Voter Apathy' fairy or Santa clause like figure that is poisoning us into not giving a shit about voting. I know I took my does back in February and decided voting is counter poductive. No matter who you vote for they aren't going to do what you voted them in to do, they're going to compromise, which is a nice word for half-assing.
I'm leaving on that note but I'm going to reprint part of an article from BusinessWeek that was part of the "Does your Vote Matter?" report they did. (the answer most of the time is no).
From 1960 to 1976, all of the big states were electoral battlegrounds and were usually decided by five percentage points or less. Now, three of the four largest (California, New York, and Texas), with 44% of the electoral votes needed for victory, are off the table. This lack of competitiveness filters down to the local level. In 1976, just 26.8% of Americans lived in counties where one Presidential candidate won handily. Four years ago, 45.3% of voters were in such blowout counties.
With so many electoral votes predetermined, candidates don't waste time on sure bets, except for the occasional fund-raising foray. Instead, the Presidential race focuses on Gray Zones made up of the few remaining swing states (map, page 63). The battlegrounds are in the industrial heartland, where voters lean toward Democrats' economic populism but embrace Republican family values. And they are in Latino-influenced Sunbelt states from Arizona to Florida, where growing Hispanic populations and newcomers from more liberal locales have given Democrats a boost.
The result is a nation of political haves and have-nots. A high-tech family in the suburbs of Seattle or Portland -- both in battleground states -- is among the most sought-after, the subject of countless focus groups and direct-mail solicitations. But a techie in the Democratic turf of Boston's Route 128 corridor could go all year with nary a get-out-the-vote call.
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Speaking of opinions there is no other time that during the election year that everyone has an opinion. Since the beginning of the year people have been biting all of their good friend's heads off in order to convince them their side is right. I, thankfully, am in the most ironic of all these types of situation being a college student and all. I really like seeing how every student knows who will be best to run the country yet statistics show around a quarter of them will vote. Is some socialist organization throwing all night parties on campuses all over America. Are students just unable to get up the next day to vote. I think everyone understand a good bender will last well past 6 in the evening the next day.
I'm not a complete idiot so I wasn't in college last time we had an election. Now that I am its not the actual voting process and being able to participate in the democratic ideals that has me excited. Its the prospect of this magical night known as Election Eve when nearly 2/3 of Americans are convinced every thing they were frustrated with in politics doesn't matter the next morning.
There has to be some sort of 'Voter Apathy' fairy or Santa clause like figure that is poisoning us into not giving a shit about voting. I know I took my does back in February and decided voting is counter poductive. No matter who you vote for they aren't going to do what you voted them in to do, they're going to compromise, which is a nice word for half-assing.
I'm leaving on that note but I'm going to reprint part of an article from BusinessWeek that was part of the "Does your Vote Matter?" report they did. (the answer most of the time is no).
From 1960 to 1976, all of the big states were electoral battlegrounds and were usually decided by five percentage points or less. Now, three of the four largest (California, New York, and Texas), with 44% of the electoral votes needed for victory, are off the table. This lack of competitiveness filters down to the local level. In 1976, just 26.8% of Americans lived in counties where one Presidential candidate won handily. Four years ago, 45.3% of voters were in such blowout counties.
With so many electoral votes predetermined, candidates don't waste time on sure bets, except for the occasional fund-raising foray. Instead, the Presidential race focuses on Gray Zones made up of the few remaining swing states (map, page 63). The battlegrounds are in the industrial heartland, where voters lean toward Democrats' economic populism but embrace Republican family values. And they are in Latino-influenced Sunbelt states from Arizona to Florida, where growing Hispanic populations and newcomers from more liberal locales have given Democrats a boost.
The result is a nation of political haves and have-nots. A high-tech family in the suburbs of Seattle or Portland -- both in battleground states -- is among the most sought-after, the subject of countless focus groups and direct-mail solicitations. But a techie in the Democratic turf of Boston's Route 128 corridor could go all year with nary a get-out-the-vote call.
Publicar un comentario