Scooping Myself

So with posting this, I'm kind of scooping myself.
I wrote this article for the McNally Smith Decibel, the student publication at my school, back in November, after a student poll showed roughly a third of the student body was planning to vote in the midterm elections. Due to one thing and another, it will finally be published in the edition coming out this month. However, after my recent trip to Madison, and the events that have occurred there in the last few days, I feel that this should be posted before my next few articles, for both edification and reference purposes.

Recently, this publication ran a poll asking whether or not individuals would be voting in the midterm election. The poll returned roughly thirty-three percent to each of the three possible responses, 'Yes', 'No', and 'What?'. These results show a rather negative trend; either a full third of those polled managed to avoid politics to the extreme that they were completely ignorant of the midterm election and a further third knew of it but did not intend to vote, or a large number of people decided that this poll was a joke and treated it as such. While neither is positive, here it is the former that shall be discussed.
There are many arguments and excuses from people who don't vote, especially in midterm elections such as these past ones, ranging from 'Politics doesn't affect me' to 'There are no honest politicians' to 'Midterm elections are pointless anyways'. Regardless of the argument or reason, the end result remains the same: one more individual who has waived their right as a citizen of this country to influence the direction of its' development and to voice their opinion of the direction it is currently taking in a way that politicians do understand, and above all, will react to.
Politics affects us all, regardless of where we are in this country, what it is we do, where we work, or whether we vote. Politics decide tax rates yes, which it seems is often the only thing we hear about, but it also controls infrastructure maintenance, nature conservation, the military, and so much more. All too often we think about the government as something which just takes, takes, takes, and we forget what it does.
As for the concept that there are no honest politicians, that is just untrue. It also suffers from the concept that politicians are supposed to be some sort of Nietzschean supermen, free from the thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to and beyond any sort of basic animal instinct. The fact is that politicians are people, they aren't any different then the people you walk past on the street every day; they don't get special training, they don't have to get a degree. All that happens is they tell other regular people that they will represent them as best they can. That's it. Some are honest people. However, some are looking after personal interests. Still others are more focused on the interests of the few then the many. But there are good people out there in politics. Too often we don't hear about them, because we're too focused on the noisemakers, the extremists on both sides of the aisle. We see the ambitious men, the ones who are looking for power. What we don't see are the ones whose interests are focused on helping the people they were elected to represent. And they do exist. But don't just take their word for it. Find out things about them, examine their current and past positions. And if you get the chance, talk to them. Judge them for yourselves.
I have often heard that the political system in this country needs 'change' and 'shaking up'. Also often heard are complaints that individuals lack the tools to do this, unless it be with guns and violence. The tool for every citizen of this country to effect change is already there. It is insured by law, by Article VI of the Constitution itself, and its', 15th, 19th, 24th, and 26th amendments. Those articles provide the right to vote to every citizen over the age of 18, regardless of religion, race, or gender.
But does just one vote matter? That is another common saying. Well, the individual tools are present, but it took a great many tools working together to build the Panama Canal, or the Hoover Dam. One vote does matter, because all of those 'just one' votes add up quickly. Band together, talk to people, get the information, and vote. If you don't like the way things are going, and you know other people who think the same way, tell your representatives, vote for those who you think have your interests at heart, not their own. Convince enough people to vote with you, and who knows, maybe those 'just one' votes will change something for the better. Minnesota Senator Al Franken was elected in the 2008 election by a margin of 312 'just one' votes. That's roughly half the student body of McNally Smith. And the most interesting part is that all it would have taken to turn the election around would have been another 312 people voting the other way. Plus 'just one' more.
I leave you with a quote from the American writer Alexander Woollcott:

"I am tired of hearing it said that democracy doesn't work. Of course it doesn't work. We are supposed to work it."