The increasing difficulty of getting younger people to be involved in politics and particularly in regards to our civil responsibility to vote has led to one of the stupidest phrases ever: Just vote.
Well, I'm gonna say what someone else should have: don't. The notion of just vote is so suggest you have freedom to vote for whoever you want It is supposed to be the no pressure way to say that. We don't care who you vote for, just that you do. Just vote.
Well now it is time we put an end to that. For one, we should dispel the idea that we don't really care who you vote for. The truth is I do. I care because if I'm voting it means I think this person should be president, and that only happens if other people do to. So while you are free to vote for whoever you want, I want you to vote for the same person I am. What I especially don't want is you ignorantly voting for the wrong person. Which is the real issue.
The next problem is not only that I do care who you vote for, but if you really think about it, saying it doesn't matter who you vote for diminishes the civil responsibility itself. If it doesn't matter who, then does it matter why I vote? If it doesn't matter who or why does it matter if I vote at all? The truth is I could steal a little red "I Voted" sticker - something else I find really stupid - and you would never know. The principle that it is absolutely essential looks foolish to someone who thinks "it was not essential when I was 16 and could not vote".
Instead we need to be advocating interest in our government and its running. We ought to be saying what really matters is you get to know the candidates, find out what they stand for, decide what philosophies of politics you stand for, discern what issues matter most and go from there. What we need is for people to just be informed, by more than a biased campaign commercial or a Facebook propaganda statement. Instead of trying to build up some minimal effort campaign to blindly and ignorantly go to the voting booths that day we need to advocate for people to care about politics. That will not only spurn voting, but informed voting.
When one actually thinks this candidate ought to be president, they will go to the poll. And their vote will matter, because it will matter to them that they had the right to vote. The responsibility to vote will be one taken with more seriousness than whoever ABC or FOX is pushing.
And this requires more than simply seeing if the name is recognizable or there is a "D" or "R" beside them. A man once told me that if you stand against abortion then you don't need to be informed, you need to go and vote Republican. But not all Republicans are against abortion. More moderate Republicans for example advocate that states instead of federal governments should have the right to allow/outlaw abortion. So one may not be necessarily voting for someone opposed to abortion. This is only one example in which voting simply by party is not much better than blindly going to the booth. And this is again why our mantra cannot simply be "just vote" as if the party titles will then guide them in the booth.
I also believe increasing a passion for politics and policy will increase the availability of politicians who are more willing to hold stances outside their party. It may even finally allow us to move beyond the strict two party polarization, or even finally give way to a real third party candidate. This part may be pure idealism. But I think that the involvement of the moderates, swings, and inactives would over time have to have some impact on the political landscape, and likely affect the middle. Consider right now our polarization is about trying to make one hate the other party's plan without knowing anything really about it, or their own party's plan. And such negative campaigning goes on, because as much as people hate it, it works. It seems one of the reasons it works is we would rather a quick assessment that makes, it rarely impacts the politically involved, who have usually made up their mind. It impacts the middle ground of people who "just vote".
Just voting is a good way to make elections about popularity contests and political propaganda. It is a way to people not care as much about actual policy and then not value the government we have, or the difficulties that go into running it. I think it would even foster respect for those we oppose, because we would have had more exposure for their genuine desire to do what they think is right than some belief that they don't care about our country.
Finally, then maybe even people would stay home who should. I don't want ignorant voting. In fact the first year I could vote I didn't, because I did not know enough about the candidates. And I'm glad. And the truth is people telling me to get out there don't teach me anything about responsibility or the right to vote. Teaching me to genuine want a say will do that. And some times it will teach me that I really don't like either candidate. Sometimes you look and realize that voting is actually casting your support for people you don't want. And that too does not help our nation. One of the things we have yet to teach is also that refusing to vote for those we don't support is an option as well. If the glaring absence of people has been noticed enough to spurn a ridiculous "just vote" campaign, then what would an informed absence cause? Perhaps it would lead to solving it not by encouraging us to come but convincing us, by giving us worthwhile candidates.
The moral of the story is simple, what we need to do is get more involved in politics. That should be our campaign. And on top of that, we should discourage uninformed 'just voting' simply so we get some red sticker of honor and appease those around us. At best it does not encourage better politics or true civic duty and right, at worst it gets the wrong guy in office.
Get informed. Then you decide.
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