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Volume 27, Issue 4, September 02, 2004 NEWS |
You are between18 and 21. You can vote for the first time.Editors Note:Although the author of this piece is from another country, she makes a very valid point, students rarely get involved in politics and most of all, few actually vote. Students need to stop complaining about the cost of higher education and start doing more, or in my personal opinion, shut up. Complainers never get anything done, doers do. Richard Boettner , MetOnline Editor You are between18 and 21. You can vote for the first time. ěYoung votersî - that's you - are a HUGE voting block ... and the biggest one that doesn't use their power! So you are also part of the biggest group of people that get ignored and stomped on by the politicians. They dismiss you and thank their lucky tax breaks that you think democracy is beneath you. You don't vote, all you can do is shut up and pay. Think about it. Student grants being reduced. Deductions for support and education for your parents have been cut back. Help for middle and low income students, like subsidized work study programs have been slashed and trashed. Tax breaks and budget cuts mostly only help the Haves and the Have Mores! Those cutbacks also raise tuition and lower scholarships for the Have Lesses and Need Mores. All of this makes it harder to get your degree. So here is what you've been waiting 18-21 years for: POWER! YOU can put the brakes on these cut-backs. YOU can even go for more than just damage control. BUT ONLY IF YOU VOTE for candidates that really support education when they are making laws - including high schools and middle schools too. You know absolutely how important a college degree is to your chances of ever making a half-decent living. It stinks to start job hunting with debt up to your eyeballs. While you're at it, get a better tax and tuition deal for your parents too. Well, okay, you DO have a little competition out there. Not everybody has kids in college, and they could use a few breaks for themselves. Like cheaper medicine so they don't have to sell their house to stay alive. Some people just care about other things. Like getting tax breaks so huge that they pay less tax on their millions than your folks do on their thousands. How do they do it? History teaches them that the youth non-vote is so ignorant and apathetic they can keep it coming ... out of your pocket. In order to get the attention of the politicians, you have to VOTE and get your friends to VOTE too. It's the ONLY way to get the government to hear you Why? Finally, your might have heard a lot of talk about electronic voting problems, cancelled primaries, and other totally undemocratic stuff designed to wipe out your faith in American democracy. Challenge it! Find a way to volunteer your computer skills as an election overseer to spot fraud and whistleblow it. Use it before you lose it! Vote by absentee ballot so you know you have paper ballot to be counted. Just remember to do two SIMPLE things: 1. Register to Vote in good time - your can check www.fvap.gov for all the info on your home state or your state of student residence and its rules. You can even download the forms. 2. Vote! Don't blow off this part, or you've gone and filled in forms and read War and Peace in the post office line for nada. Send your ballot ahead or get your body to the voting booth on 2 November. If you didn't get your ballot in time, get an Emergency Write-In Ballot. You owe it to yourself to vote. It beats owing more to the bank. Copyright 2004 by Rose Anne Hamilton Stjernegade 20E Email:rahamlet04@hotmail.com
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