That set me off! I TOLD HIM THAT YES. IT DOES COUNT. He was so surprised that I was so vehement that He needed to vote. As he questioned me more on WHY? I told him that it was his DUTY as an American to vote. I don't care which way you vote, but you do need to vote. He still said it doesn't count.
I started thinking about why so many younger people think that, and I am befuddled. Is it because you find someone else that can cancel out your vote? Is it because of the Electoral College? (Which I did not mention to him as I don't think he would have understood). Is it maybe because no one listens to him? He said that he would call someone and tell them he does not want to go to any war. But they would not listen.
In some respects he is correct. I don't know how many emails I have sent to my legislators, only to get the standard "thank you for your letter" return. DOES any one listen any more?
I am not going to give up on this young man, I see him once a week, And I will continue to advise him to at least learn what the issues are, and then make up his own mind, on what he wants to see, and then let his legislators know what he needs, and then REGISTER TO VOTE!
I wrote this post several weeks ago, intending to add more to it, but in re-reading it, I think I will post it now and then compose a further one later on towards the elections. It is very important that no matter which way you vote, that you DO! otherwise you have no right to complain, because you did nothing to try and change it.
5 comments:
I wonder if part of the reluctance on voting for the younger voters is that they tend to favor candidates that might be called kind of out on the edge of reality. I understand that Ron Paul's biggest base of support is among young voters. While I think he has some good and interesting ideas, I think that he also has some that would be bad for the country and he also has no chance of being elected. After a few times being exposed to that situation, they probably do tend to feel that their vote is meaningless.
Point out to him though that especially in more local things one vote can be very important. The last governor's here in our state is a good example of that where out of well over a million votes the difference was (I don't remember exactly) only about 100 or fewer votes. Really local issues can come down to just a 3 or 4 vote difference.
Good Point Dick! I also mentioned to him that he needs to get educated on the issues even if it means just knowing who is actually in office.
And I think it was 157 votes...(heck I dont know!) ;)
I think a lot of people would say nothing ever changes.
I did the same with some women I worked with years ago. Spelled out just how much the sufragettes went through just so that women could vote and we shouldn't let them down.
Good work Mary Lou!
I've never missed an election since I got the right to vote in 1972, at the age of 20. Yes, I am utterly disappointed by most outcomes, but that doesn't mean my vote doesn't count. What it means is that the people running for office want our votes, but don't really want to work for us after they are elected. We need to get better candidates.
I will Never understand a person's unwillingness to educate themselves...When was the last time you heard of a Civics course being taught....sad.
hughugs
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