Vote! Vote vote vote vote vote. Say it or read it enough times (go ahead) and you get a case of the semantic satiations. This is the phenomenon that occurs when a word is repeated so often it loses all meaning. The user has trouble figuring out what makes it special or how that arbitrary alignment of letters could possibly convey anything important. We know the word has meaning, but repetition and rabble-rousing ad nauseam just induces confused word vomit.
But we still hear the command to”vote” over and over and over, so it must have more weight to it than the urging of your peers to register and the always implied “if you didn’t vote, stop complaining,” sentiment. The heavy lifting of voting that many students, and a hell of a lot of other folks don’t sweat, is the learning process of it all.
Before you send in that glanced over mail-in-ballot or connect that half-reasoned line in the polling booth, do some research. Taking part of the democratic process requires more than jumping on the bandwagon with the most bumper stickers; it’s about educating yourself and coming to your own conclusions about the kind of society you want to live in.
It is every registered citizens obligation to vote. But you already knew that. The voting spirit has been bored into your brains by the cranium drill of democracy, the one that politicians take to your head intent on filling it with loyalty but just leave with excess mud slinging sludge. Even more pressing than your obligation to vote is the obligation to plug these abscesses in your grey matter with information and data that will empower your polling booth presence with knowledge.
The most important part of voting that young people seem to lose sight of is the cause and effect nature. Make an educated decision now, and you should be able to expect what will follow. Vote blindly, and yes, you’ve fulfilled your obligation, but how do you know you’re not just another bleating sheep in the pasture, unaware of where to go and but to follow the barking sheep dogs of the dominant voice?
