This election galvanized voters of all parties. Everywhere I went yesterday, people sported “I Voted” stickers and were eager to discuss the election. My husband and I went to West Springfield High School at 7:15 AM to vote and found that the line was already snaking its way out of the building. But despite the early hour and the long line, people were upbeat and talkative, energized (in part) by the coffee and baked goods volunteers were selling outside, but mostly by a keen awareness that we were taking part in a historic election. Our long line moved swiftly, and in less than an hour, my husband and I were inside the school and voting. The use of scannable paper ballots made it possible for more people to vote at once, and this new voting method kept the line moving and frustration low. What about you? What happened when you went to vote?
On Mason’s campus, the weather was dreary and damp, but spirits were high.
Student Government ran vans to the Woodson High School polling place, and volunteers promoted this service by becoming “human advertisements.”
Rain apparently, does not damper revolutions!
This guy stole my heart!
Our university was not without its own drama. Yesterday morning, a hacker broke into the Provost’s email account and sent out a fake message announcing that the election had been moved to November 5th. Rumors circulated that Mason students who voted could lose their financial aid.
But such lame attempts proved ineffective against the smart and savvy youthful voters who went to the polls in record numbers. Your demographic – voters between the ages of 18 and 25 – voted overwhelmingly for Obama and helped power him to victory. Now it’s your turn to act upon that mandate and consider how you will help him guide our nation toward economic recovery, energy reform, and improved security both at home and abroad.
How will you meet the challenge Obama made to all Americans in his victory speech last night that change can’t happen without “a new spirit of patriotism, a new spirit of sacrifice?” How has this election influenced your outlook on the future and the role you will play in it as a working professional?
3 comments:
I'm down the street from Floris Elementary, my parents went early in the morning - in and out, I went around 3 in the afternoon, in and out. It was pretty much opposite of the "record numbers and long lines" stories all over the news. There were definitely enough name checkers and volunteers to hand out sample ballots and show you how to walk to the booth and touch the screen, or use an antiquated paper ballot if you want. And God forbid you should forget your "I Voted" sticker; they made sure you didn't leave without knowing that you could get a free drink at Starbucks with it! Overall, I'm glad I got out quickly and got it over with, so I could get to the interesting process of the election results at night, what I was really looking forward to.
This election has left me with conflicting feelings. On the one hand, Obama's victory is a sign of progress towards a more socially liberal America, something I have always hoped for. On the other hand, I fear that Obama may try to regulate the economy in ways that will hurt it. The Democratic Party's economic platforms have always been backward-thinking, but maybe Obama will follow Bill Clinton's lead and enact fundamentally republican policies after telling the democrats voting for him what they want to hear.
Obama got one thing right, he called for the people of America to be the change they want to see, to work harder and be willing to sacrifice for some time. The very basic root of the economic crisis is that the American economy has been declining for some time, mostly because we are not willing to work as hard as we once were. If every American goes out and works harder at their job than usual for the next few years, then there is no way the economy will not rebound.
Personally, I have every intention of doing my part. Chances are, I'll be graduating soon and entering the workforce. I intend to work as hard as I can to get ahead in life. I will fulfill my patriotic duty by going out and being the best worker that I can.
I will meet the challenge that Barack Obama set by following my own pre-existing view on life and its relationship to government. Government shouldn't step into all of our lives, every day, without consequence, but we should still be willing as citizens to make our own sacrifices to help the nation as a whole. I will admit not being very proud of my country in recent years, but I will take Obama's "new spirit of patriotism" to heart. Patriotism is no longer blind allegiance to the commander in chief. Patriotism is being willing to stand up to your government when you feel it's moving in the wrong direction and telling it that it needs to change. I feel that the voting results of this election reflect that I'm not the only one who feels that way. As a sidenote, I hope this means that places like Fox News and the Huffington Post calm down after a while. I would hope that Obama's call for a new kind of patriotism and extending across the aisle includes toning down the "Us vs. Them" mentality that is pervading media, Congress, and the general public. I found it saddening that Republicans I knew, who just a week ago would've been getting mad at me for criticizing Bush because "We should support our President" in a faux-patriot fervor were turning around and telling us to be proud of our new Socialist country. THAT is sickening.
This election has influenced my outlook on the future of America for the better. I've already read many articles that have mentioned that the world's view of this election has been quite positive, and the U.S. definitely needs a positive image boost in the rest of the world. I feel like the voting results really are America sending a clear signal to the rest of the world that despite the stereotype of an insular, ignorant culture, we really are capable of changing our views when we need to. As a working professional, I feel ambivalent, and I think that speaks to the still remaining economic uncertainty in this country. Neither candidate really could have legitimately claimed to know what was coming, and I don't think either did. But I trust Obama more to be able to react in a way that will help and not hurt the country to whatever challenges come, and while the fact that those challenges remain keeps me from being overwhelmingly positive, at least I'm not completely negative.
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