If you believe everything you read and hear, all young and hip entertainment types are Democrat. Oh, they are also usually wealthy. That part you don't hear about because the propaganda you get from the Democrat party is that all Republicans are very well off and that their party is the one for the poor and downtrodden. The Republican party is supported by a lot of wealthy individuals and corporations but so are the Democrats. I have come to believe that both of our major political parties are generally pretty much the same. Overall they try to appeal to different special interest groups and seem to have different agendas. But do they really? I believe both parties major agenda is getting elected and being the party in power.
The audience for this phrase now seems to be young adults as I mentioned earlier. When you are young you are much more idealistic. So the parties attempt through media to appeal to this idealism. The powers that be still try to make you feel if you do not get out and vote that you are unpatriotic. If you don't vote what right do you have to have an opinion about anything?
The writer of this article seems to be targeting a wider audience, maybe mainstream America, the middle class. He is trying to debunk the stream of thought that says you are not American if you do not vote. I think he is making a lot of very good points. A lot of thought went into the article. You can tell this is a subject that has been burning in his head and he got to the point where he had to get it out.
I am not surprised that this was written in 1955. We tend to look at the past as more pure and straight forward. People change in a lot of ways generation to generation but some things about us just tend to stay the same. We are still told that we must vote by the different parties and the media. Most voters actually are issue voters and that is how they determine who they will vote for. Those who do vote still vote absentmindedly on issues or for candidates they know little or nothing about.
Name recognition is the way a lot of people vote. I once was waiting in line to vote for local election. Two ladies in front of me were talking and I heard, "Well, I really don't know anything about the candidates for (fill in the blank) but I am going to vote for so and so because he has been in there for a long time." This is why you have so many elected officials stay in office for years even though they may be doing nothing. This particuliar elected official the ladies were speaking of I knew something about because I frequented his office in my work. He came to the office during election time or when there was going to be a photo shoot or an interview. He always immediately went back to his private office and turned on the television and one of his employees would bring him a coke or something to eat.He came out when the media arrived. The only reason he is not in office now is he died.
So I agree with the author of the article that we need to be informed voters, not just cattle led to the field to graze and munch on grass. I have been guilty myself in the past of uninformed voting. People do that for all the reasons stated in the article and if they don't know about a candidate for a certain office they will vote their political party. They may think they are supporting the right things by doing so but they really do not know what the candidate stands for.
I am trying even now to look a bit deeper and vote for who I believe will do the best job. This means paying attention and not believing all the hype. And I would like to be able to vote for the candidate I decide is the right choice, not Democrat, Republican or etc.
1 comment:
Yeah, I wrote about the “rock the vote” also. I think that it was a good idea to inspire people to vote, but it’s sad if you have to come up with a “hip” slogan to inspire the young crowd to vote. I also remember that the entire guest on TRL would wear the “rock the vote” t-shirts.
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