Election 2008

I hate talking about politics and as a rule I never do with friends. I'm 1/2 awake right now so I'm going to make a slight exception.

As with so many other things, I think most people my age could really care less about what's going on in the world around them. That's the entire reason I started this blog. I want my age group to pay attention.

During the last presidential election, do you have any idea how many people I knew that didn't vote? Do you have any idea how many voters I knew only chose the person they did as a part of pulling a party slot? It makes me a bit sick, actually. I know things like this have been going on for about forever, but that doesn't make it right. Most politicians use these kinds of things to their advantage. They throw out some fancy words and some choice photo-op moments and suck many gullible people right in. To me, the uninformed voter is almost worse than the non-voter and I see it happen so often in my age set. Old enough to know better but still young enough to not care.

In the last election this same age group was asked to "Rock The Vote" through flashy campaigns with big name celebrities in t-shirts. For the most part, they were openly saying "make an informed choice," but in reality they were implying , "make MY informed choice." I give them credit for sparking an interest in many who might have otherwise let the day pass, but I don't think it was enough.

Now, I'm not writing all this to lean you one way or another in the grand scheme of things. I want you to know who you are voting for. Not just what their campaign manager wants you to know, but who they are, what they have done, what they support. I live in Pennsylvania and this year our primary is going to mean a lot, especially on the Democrat side. It's going to be April 22. That gives you time to read up on the candidates.

I'm going send you down the right path.

http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/

Let me make something very clear right here.

CNN'S WEBSITE DOES NOT HAVE ALL THE ANSWERS. More than anything I see it as a great starting point for those who want to know more but need a push. They have a ton of information as far as election terminology, profiles on all the candidates, the main issues in this election, all kinds of wonderful things you need to know about, and it's constantly being updated as things change. I really hope you take the time to look at it, but also do your own research outside it. Please, I cannot stress enough how important it is for you to know who you are voting for. Forget the party crap and make your decision based on what's best for you and your country.

I'm sorry this entire thing came out much more preachy than I had intended, but that's how strongly I feel about it. I just hope that you at least consider what I'm saying.



http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/
(so there's no way you can miss it)