VOTE!

Last week in class we discussed the voting process. I personally was amazed as to the amount of people who DO NOT vote. CRAZY! The lifeblood of this country is in the hands of the people and only 35% of Americans vote?!?!

We discussed several ways to increase voter turnout. One of which was mandatory (compulsory) voting. There are currently 32 countries that have compulsory voting (only 19 enforce it). I really like the idea of creating alternatives to increasing voter turn out, however is compulsory the way to go? I have been a registered voter since I was able to drive, but did not taking a serious interested until I was 21 and moved to Florida. I like the idea of compulsory voting, however my concern is simple....IGNORANCE. I must admit that the first few times I voted simply ticked the individual that stuck in my head more or the ad's that I liked on TV. It wasn't until a few years ago when we voted for the new Florida Governor (Charlie Christ) that I actually took a serious interest in choosing a candidate that I felt was qualified enough to fill the position. We are in a different era....an era were the media (TV/Internet/Etc...) can seriously mold our decisions. I can remember a piece on World New Tonight during the peak of the recent Presidential Elections that really hit home with me. Charles Gibson was reporting on the types of media the younger generation migrate to. For instance David Letterman and Jay Leno play a huge role in morphing the minds of the American public on the candidates. Whether it was totally out of the ball park or a small joke toward a candidate, it played a role in the 2008 elections. I am fearful that the younger crowd will take those types of remarks and make a decision purely based on humor. The Internet was a another source for poor information related to voting. We need to educate the general public before making a sound decision on who is going to run our country for the next four to eight years.....we can't base that on a skit from Saturday Night Live. EDUCATE! EDUCATE! EDUCATE!