Disenfranchised. Again.
Four years ago, I remember taking an elevator at Portland State University. Gore had finally conceded and W just accepted the Presidency. As the rickety elevator gyrated its way up four Cramer Hall floors, I looked up at the numbers as they faded and lit. Under the “3” was a hastily written statement: “Fuck Dubya.” And then, scratched in barely legible pen above the eloquent proclomation , was a retort: “How much damage can one man do?”
I think for the most part that question was answered over the past four years. Now, I don’t know if the retort was from a conservative or liberal point of view, it can work both ways when one thinks about it: A conservative may be defending the President, meaning that it takes more than just one person to drive a country. A liberal might be implying that while the defeat was taxing, Bush is, in essence, just the tip of the iceberg. We need to watch out not only for him, but for what he stands for, his beliefs, etc.
I’m disappointed, not so much because he was reelected, but because the same people who didn’t vote in the 2000 election, didn’t vote again in 2004, despite huge pre-election numbers of voter registrations of young people. The 2000 election saw 17% of (registered)18-29 year olds vote…same thing this time: 17%.
17%.
Of course, when broken down further, the number of those young voters had overwhelmingly voted for Kerry: something like 54% to 35% (I don’t care to look up the stats, but it was on CNN last night; Forest Something-or-other even pointed it out). Of course, the numbers could have risen further in Bush’s favor too; there’s no way of knowing for sure, but statistics point a pretty steady finger most of the time.
And on top of that, all eleven states, including my beloved Oregon, voted to AMEND the fucking constitution to state that marriage is explicitly a man/woman thing. Now, regardless of how you view this, shouldn’t AMENDING constitutions be focused on more immediate things? Seriously…take one look out how Oregon’s schools are doing and tell me how keeping two guys or two women from wedding one another is more important.
How much damage?
Apparently not nearly enough…
I think for the most part that question was answered over the past four years. Now, I don’t know if the retort was from a conservative or liberal point of view, it can work both ways when one thinks about it: A conservative may be defending the President, meaning that it takes more than just one person to drive a country. A liberal might be implying that while the defeat was taxing, Bush is, in essence, just the tip of the iceberg. We need to watch out not only for him, but for what he stands for, his beliefs, etc.
I’m disappointed, not so much because he was
17%.
Of course, when broken down further, the number of those young voters had overwhelmingly voted for Kerry: something like 54% to 35% (I don’t care to look up the stats, but it was on CNN last night; Forest Something-or-other even pointed it out). Of course, the numbers could have risen further in Bush’s favor too; there’s no way of knowing for sure, but statistics point a pretty steady finger most of the time.
And on top of that, all eleven states, including my beloved Oregon, voted to AMEND the fucking constitution to state that marriage is explicitly a man/woman thing. Now, regardless of how you view this, shouldn’t AMENDING constitutions be focused on more immediate things? Seriously…take one look out how Oregon’s schools are doing and tell me how keeping two guys or two women from wedding one another is more important.
How much damage?
Apparently not nearly enough…
posted by The Haiku Review at 9:08 AM
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