I sort of feel like Paul Revere here, warning unsuspecting citizens that the British (or the candidates, in this case) are coming. This time, though, most people know that because of the TV advertisements, mail flyers, news debates and editorials, door-to-door volunteers, and those thousands of environmentally unfriendly stake signs that appear in intervals of inches all along our roadways. To be honest, I get it: I don't need 370 Allen signs or 412 Hurst signs to remind me ... it's definitely election season.
When I first started this political commentary blog, I thought I'd be more broad in my discussions of election issues, especially in the Montana and Pennsylvania senatorial races. However, as it goes, I've become more focused on both the Virginia election and the issues with my volunteering during election day and what happens to voters' votes. I don't think these issues are cut and dry, but, nevertheless, they are important, even if you don't vote. Issues of "freedom" are at the core of our ability, as U.S. citizens, to act out, to speak out, to promote change. And there has been many opportunities for change, even in the last 100 years. Women have finally received the right to vote; segregation was declared unconstitutional; child labor laws protect children from gulag-like working conditions and serve as enforcement for children to go to school and obtain the same education as anybody else, rich or poor. Sexual harrassment laws and whistle-blower protection now allow for those in the minority in certain fields to have the same opportunities to pursue happiness, and be protected when they witness lawbreaking at work.
Yet why is the United States the "second-worst newborn mortality rate in the developed world?" (CNN, 2006). Why is it that we're ranked 9th in the world in the rate of high-school educated adults (CBS, 2005)? That
One in five American adults are working to pay off medical debts while an alarmingly high” number of Americans with chronic illnesses skipped their medications because they could not afford them, according to a new study. ... The study, by The Commonwealth Fund, also found that 41 percent of working-age Americans with annual incomes between 20,000 and 40,000 dollars were uninsured for at least part of the past year, up sharply from 28 percent in 2001. [Political Nonsense, 2006]
Aren't these the issues we really should be worried about during election day?
References CitedCBS News. (2005). U.S. Education Slips In Rankings. Acessed November 6, from http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/09/13/national/main838207.shtml
CNN. (2006). U.S. has second worst newborn death rate in modern world, report says. Accessed November 6, from http://www.cnn.com/2006/HEALTH/parenting/05/08/mothers.index/
Political Nonsense. (2006). Study finds Americans can’t afford healthcare. Accessed November 6, from http://blog.politicalnonsense.com/2006/04/26/main/study-finds-americans-cant-afford-healthcare/
1 comment:
AMEN! I think your hitting the problem right on the head. Do the candidates that we voted for today, really know what we want? I just had to give my vote on a bill that will raise taxes in my county, so the county can improve the roads problems and traffic that the last addendum caused. Why should I have to pay more to fix the problem, caused by over building, that the last guy created? Most people I talk to liked the sleepy town we use to be. I was so turned off this year by the negativity and amount of phone calls, some of which I received after 10PM, that in a fit of defiance I almost didn’t vote. I was not alone in that thinking and I do not believe that the candidates were after that kind of response. They never seem to see the cause and effect of their campaign after they get rolling.
Post a Comment